Man accused of punching, stabbing victim who offered him barbecue

STOCK ISLAND, Florida – A man’s generosity led to him being beaten and nearly stabbed in the Florida Keys over the weekend, deputies said.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, authorities responded to mile marker 4.5 of the Stock Island fence Sunday afternoon after receiving reports of a disturbance among several people who regularly congregate in the area.

An arrest report states the victim told officers that Patrick Michael DeGrand, 42, of Key West, “assaulted him for no reason.”

The man told deputies he was “new in town” and had been grilling food earlier and “offered some of the food from the grill to DeGrand, who became aggressive with him and told him, ‘I don’t take handouts,’” wrote Deputy Nicholas Galbo.

“He said he was trying to be nice and then for no reason DeGrand punched him in the left side of his face and in the jaw for no reason,” Galbo wrote.

After the victim fell, several other people came to help and defend her, the report said.

Officers said DeGrand retreated, then returned with a large hunting knife and began swinging it at the victim, trying to cut him. He felt like DeGrand was “going to kill him,” the report said.

A witness said he also used it against those defending the victim, “so people took sticks to defend themselves.”

According to the report, DeGrand told deputies the victim “offered him food and he didn’t want it,” which led to him punching the victim in the face because he “wouldn’t leave her alone and continued to intrude on her personal space.”

He said he grabbed the knife to defend himself after people picked up sticks.

Authorities arrested DeGrand on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery.

This is not the first time he has been accused of threatening an unsuspecting victim with a knife.

According to court documents, on July 13, 2021, Key West police arrested him for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he pulled a knife on a woman searching for her dog on Higgs Beach.

Police said the woman shone a flashlight on him as he slept in a shed, prompting him to pull out the gun and tell the woman, “I’m going to kill you.”

He later pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of improper display of a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to 45 days in county jail, with 40 days of time served credited.

As of Monday morning, he was back in jail at the MCSO Correctional Facility in Key West, where he was being held without bail, online records show.