Key West The Newspaper

Argument leads to knife threats

A Stock Island man is in jail charged with threating his friend with a knife after an argument.

The two men were downtown Key West Thursday night and were on their way home in the early morning hours when they got into an argument at about 2:30 a.m. The suspect, 23 year old Alberto Hernandez, was driving and pulled up to his 11th Avenue home. The argument continued and became physical; Hernandez hit his friend in the face in the car. They both got out of the car and began to fight.

At some point, Hernandez ran into his house and got a knife. He came out and threatened the victim with it, chasing him down the street. They struggled again and this time, Hernandez held the knife to his friend’s throat and threatened to cut him if he didn’t “shut up or quit insulting him”.

The two finally separated, going different directions. The victim called the Sheriff’s Office after he realized he had a cut on his neck from the knife.

Deputies Boyd Williams and David Lariz responded and spoke to the two men, whose stories were in agreement. Hernandez said he got the knife from his house to defend himself from the victim.

Hernandez was arrested. He was booked into jail on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Woman charged with dui, leaving the scene of a crash

A woman from Winter Park, Florida was arrested Thursday evening after she crashed into another vehicle, fled the scene of the crash and then lied to deputies about it.

32 year old Courtney Helms was intoxicated when she sideswiped another vehicle on the Rockland Key Bridge at the 9 mile marker of the highway at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The driver told Deputy Greg Korzen he had to swerve to avoid being hit head on by the gray Chrysler 200. He was, fortunately, not injured in the accident but his black Mercedes sustained considerable damage.

Deputy Korzen found Helms with her vehicle on the side of the road at the 10 mile marker. There was considerable damage to the vehicle. A witness that had also pulled over told Deputy Korzen he’d followed Helm’s vehicle northbound from the city of Key West and she’d been swerving all over the road. He said he saw the crash on the bridge, which he said was caused by Helms.

Helms told Deputy Korzen she was parked on the side of the road at the 10 mm when an unknown car sideswiped her. There was no evidence on the scene to support her story. A passenger in the car with her told the deputy Helms had been involved in the crash on the Rockland Key Bridge. The driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash responded and identified her and her car as the ones who hit him.

Deputy Korzen saw clear signs Helms was impaired. She smelled of alcohol and there was a small amount of marijuana found in the car and indications she may have been smoking it.

A check on Helms through law enforcement computers showed a previous DUI arrest. Helms was arrested; she was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of an crash, giving false information, failure to show proof of insurance and failure to drive within her designated lane and causing a crash.