After allegedly firing a pistol at a car full of high school teens who threw cheese on his Range Rover, former Florida Mayo Clinic doctor Bruce Mitchell is facing felony charges, according to police.
On Saturday evening, 67-year-old Mitchell was arrested in Ponte Vedra Beach after an alarming high-speed car chase that started with a seemingly harmless teen prank.
Five student-athletes from a Jacksonville private school told cops they had been “throwing cheese” from their car at a stoplight.
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They however revealed that things escalated when a black Range Rover began bearing down on them after the light turned green, a St. John’s Citizen report states.
Mitchell aggressively tailed the teens in his Range Rover, as the students accelerated and swerved between lanes to escape.
According to reports, the 67-year-old then allegedly waved a gun out his car’s window and fired a round into the air, causing the teenage driver to accelerate away.
The high schooler told cops he was thinking he “didn’t want to die” the whole time, while one of his passengers said he was “in fear for his and his friends’ lives” as they called 911 from the car.
The former Florida doctor allegedly stopped following the teens after police passed them and then drove off in another direction. Shortly after, he was stopped by authorities.
Court documents indicate that Bruce Mitchell stepped out of his car without being directed, with officers drawing their weapons and ordering him to surrender before he complied.
“I then gave loud verbal commands to walk backwards to the sound of my voice,” said a responding officer in an incident report obtained by the Citizen.
During his arrest, a Sig Sauer pistol was reportedly found in Mitchell’s glovebox, with a loaded magazine on the passenger seat and a spent bullet cartridge lying in the footwell.
“They shot at me first,” Mitchell told police after his arrest, before refusing to speak, as no weapons were found in the teens’ car.
Now, doctor Mitchell is being charged with the discharge of a weapon from a vehicle and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.
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Police say he was released on bond after being booked.
