A 32-year-old Haines City woman is facing a stack of felony charges after she allegedly beat a man with an aluminum baseball bat, fled in her car, and then rammed a Polk County Sheriff's Office deputy's patrol vehicle head-on near Haines City High School. Jasmine Janae Cuyler was taken into custody following the confrontation, which forced the school onto heightened security while deputies chased her down a dirt road.
According to a Polk County Sheriff's Office release, deputies responded to Cuyler's Haines City residence around 8 a.m. on August 11. The victim reportedly ran out of the home as the confrontation escalated, and deputies say Cuyler struck him several times with the bat before hitting him repeatedly with her fists and damaging his television, per the report from West Orlando News.
Cuyler then fled the residence in a white 2016 Toyota Corolla, according to the sheriff's office account. A deputy conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle at County Road 544 and 30th Street, but Cuyler reportedly refused to exit the car — not once, but twice.
Dirt Road Chase Ends in Head-On Collision
Instead of complying, Cuyler allegedly drove the Toyota down a dirt road situated between the high school and a nearby cemetery, prompting the school to be placed on heightened security. The encounter was far from over.
Cuyler then made an abrupt U-turn and rammed her car into the occupied patrol vehicle head-on, according to the sheriff's office account. The deputy then used his patrol car to immobilize her vehicle. She reportedly sped off toward Haines City High School before the deputy managed to pull her from the vehicle and secure her in handcuffs. The station's report notes that no deputies were injured during the ramming or her apprehension, though the male victim suffered cuts and bruises from the earlier attack.
As she was taken into custody, Cuyler allegedly yelled that the deputy was going to have to kill her, per the sheriff's office account carried by West Orlando News. She was ultimately transported to the Polk County Sheriff's processing center.
A Pattern of Escalating Violence Against the Same Victim
This was not Cuyler's first arrest for attacking the same man. She was previously arrested on March 29, 2025 for a physical attack against him, and then again less than two weeks before the August incident — on July 26, 2026 — for another assault on the same victim, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Local law enforcement noted that this marked the third time in two years Cuyler had been jailed in Polk County for physical violence.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd addressed the pattern directly, stating that Cuyler posed a direct threat to both the victim and the general public. Judd said she had clearly shown herself to be a violent person, and that the severity of her violence was getting worse — noting she had been arrested 16 days earlier, as reported by FOX 13 Tampa Bay.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office account reported by WTSP, Cuyler had a prior career in law enforcement herself. She was formerly a sergeant at Charlotte Correctional Institution, a state prison for adult male offenders on Oil Well Road in Punta Gorda that houses roughly 1,275 inmates, according to JailData.com. She was arrested and sentenced to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service after smuggling cell phones into the facility where she worked.
Felony Charges and Statutory Exposure
Cuyler now faces an extensive list of charges stemming from the August incident: aggravated battery, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting with violence, reckless driving with property damage, felony criminal mischief, fleeing to elude, battery, violation of pretrial release, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana.
The aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer charge carries particularly steep consequences. Under Florida Statute § 784.07, that offense is reclassified as a first-degree felony, carrying a 5-year mandatory minimum prison sentence and maximum penalties of up to 30 years, according to Hussein & Webber, PL.
The case also includes a violation-of-pretrial-release charge.
Her earlier contraband conviction resulted in three years of probation and 100 hours of community service after she smuggled cell phones into the facility where she worked.
