OKEECHOBEE — A 15-year-old Okeechobee girl had to be hobbled by deputies after she reportedly stomped on a female deputy’s foot and continually tried to kick two male deputies as they were trying to arrest her.
Mya Gabriel Melton, N.W. 39th Ave., was arrested Aug. 22 on felony charges of resisting a law enforcement officer with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. She was also charged with one count of resisting a law enforcement officer without violence, which is a misdemeanor.
She was booked into the Okeechobee County Jail then taken to the St. Lucie Regional Detention Center in Fort Pierce.
Mya Gabriel Melton, 15
An arrest report by Deputy Tammy Serafini, of the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO), indicated the incident began around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Okeechobee Achievement Academy’s cafeteria, 1000 N.W. 34th St. Apparently a teacher asked Melton several times to remove her ear buds.
The school’s principal and two staff members, along with Deputy Serafini who is a school resource officer, tried to speak to the teen about the ear buds.
“Mya became aggressive and started cursing,” stated the deputy’s report.
“Mya got up out of her seat and attempted to walk out of the cafeteria. We all tried to keep Mya contained in the cafeteria.”
With school officials and the deputy trying to stop the girl from leaving the building, she scaled a concrete wall and fled the campus via the main gate.
As the deputy followed Melton in her OCSO patrol car, school officials chased her on foot.
The teen was finally contained on N.W. 10th Terrace by OCSO deputies Yero Todman and Steven Pollock and placed in the back of Deputy Todman’s patrol car.
According to Deputy Serafini’s report Deputy Todman twice asked Melton to get out of his vehicle so she could be handcuffed and searched. She finally got out of the car and Deputy Serafini began to pat her down and took her cell phone, ear buds and a piece of paper.
Melton, who was wearing work boots, then became combative and the two male deputies tried to restrain her by holding her next to Deputy Todman’s vehicle.
Although her upper body was secured, Melton stomped on Deputy Serafini’s foot then tried to kick Deputy Pollock, noted the report. At that point the two male deputies hobbled Melton and put her in the back of Deputy Todman’s car.