A Tampa man identified as a former federal prosecutor is a suspect in a Florida road rage stabbing incident that took place on Tuesday morning.
Authorities arrested Patrick Douglas Scruggs, 38, on charges of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Records show he was released from jail after posting $65,000 bail.
A LinkedIn page for Scruggs showed he worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa from 2013 to 2023 before joining an Atlanta-based private law firm in May, the news outlet reported. Scruggs has experience working in January 6 cases and others over the years.
The Florida Highway Patrol put out a news release that explained what led up to the alleged stabbing on the Howard Franklin Bridge. It involved people in multiple vehicles.
A 40-year-old driver and his 43-year-old wife pulled over to help a 35-year-old man from Tampa who was slumped over in his sedan while stopped in the travel lanes, per authorities. At some point, the man woke up and accelerated forward, crashing his sedan into the couple’s car. He then backed his sedan out and crashed into a passing vehicle driven by Scruggs.
Scruggs pulled over, walked over to the 35-year-old’s vehicle, and stabbed the driver with a pocket knife, the Florida Highway Patrol said. Troopers added that Scruggs also tried to stab the couple as they tried to help the victim before the husband and wife fled.
Scruggs was detained by a St. Petersburg Police Department officer who was driving by the scene, authorities said. The stabbing victim was taken to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, they added, per Fox 13.
Scruggs’ attorney, John Nohlgren, gave a statement to the Tampa Bay Times that stressed his client is innocent until proven guilty and claimed the incident was “a chaotic situation involving multiple crashes caused by only one person on one of our area’s busiest bridges.”
“That person was not Mr. Scruggs,” the statement added. “There is much more to this incident than what is being reported and we are diligently working to bring to light the full facts of what occurred. We urge that the public keep an open mind and withhold from making judgments. We will bring forth all of the facts and make them known to the authorities in the proper forum.”