Thaindian News

FORT PIERCE, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) — A 41-year-old Port St. Lucie, Florida woman died as a result of a suicide attempt while in jail earlier this month, authorities said on Friday.

Mariangela Woycenko was jailed at the St. Lucie County jail on the night of April 12 for battery on two police officers and resisting arrest. “Several hours later, she attempted suicide by hanging herself in a medical cell at the jail’s medical wing,” said Sheriff Ken Mascara.

Mascara said deputies and jail medical staff members tried to revive Woycenko until fire-rescue workers arrived and took her to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute. Efforts to revive Woycenko at the jail included CPR and the application of an automated external defibrillator. She was pronounced dead at the hospital the next day, on April 14.

Woycenko was initially taken into custody after deputies were sent to a disturbance on April 12 shortly before 6 p.m. in the 5000 block of Midway Road involving Woycenko and her son, Arthur F. Moraes. Woycenko had just been released from the Horizons Community Mental Health Center on 4500 Midway Road.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Moraes told deputies that his mother was driving faster than 70 miles an hour and not stopping for red lights. He said he was able to stop the car and remove the keys from the ignition. “Mariangela stated [that] people were trying to kill her and she was trying to get away,” a narrative from the responding officer - Paul Pearson - read. “Due to the fact that Mariangela was a danger to herself and others, I took her into custody for a Baker Act. She was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of my car.”

The Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, better known as Florida’s Baker Act, allows law enforcement officers, judges, and mental health professionals to take someone into custody for up to 72 hours if there is evidence of a mental illness or evidence that the person is a harm to self or others.

Pearson reported that, while driving east on Midway Road, Woycenko managed to remove one of her hands out of the handcuffs and open the divider glass that separates the front from the back. “She climbed through and punched [detective sergeant] Speicker in his face and attempted to grab my steering wheel and place my car out of control.”

Pearson said he immediately stopped his patrol car. “She grabbed my right arm digging her nails into my skin trying to bite me,” he said. “[Detective sergeant] Speicker tried to pull her off me and she attacked him again trying to bite him.”

Pearson said Speicker then administered pepper spray to her facial area. “We then removed her from the car and handcuffed her again,” he said. “For her safety and my safety, she was hobbled and re-secured in the back of my car.”

Woycenko was placed under arrest on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one count of resisting with violence. She was then transported to the St. Lucie County Jail, where she later carried out her suicide attempt.