A Florida man drank a cup of bleach in a courtroom moments after listening to the jury read out his verdict convicting him of armed robbery.
Jermaine Bell, 38, has spent more than three years in custody for the December 2018 robbery for which he was convicted. He pointed a gun at Millennium Engine Plating employees while disguised as a courier.
Bell was seen drinking bleach from a white disposable cup before an officer approached him with a trash can and tried to get the inmate to vomit up the liquid. But Bell continued to drink from the cup until he finally sat down.
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Jermaine Bell, 38, has spent more than three years in custody for the December 2018 robbery for which he was convicted. He had pointed a gun at Millennium Engine Plating employees while he was disguised as a courier.
(Miami-Dade County Correction)
He immediately became seriously ill after drinking the bleach and was transported out of the courtroom in Miami on a stretcher. He was then taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
Bell is in stable condition at the hospital after ingesting the bleach, but it is unclear how he was able to obtain it in the courtroom. Her family is also raising questions about why no one intervened while she was drinking the product.
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A Florida man drank a cup of bleach in a courtroom moments after listening to the jury read out his verdict convicting him of armed robbery.
((Roberto Koltun/El Nuevo Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images))
“I see him drinking something that’s not right,” the Rev. Jerome Starling, a distant relative of Bell, told Local 10. “His lawyers let him drink it. Corrections let him drink it. All of a sudden I see him collapse. And I said how could he pass this”.
Starling said there must be accountability for what happened in the courtroom.
Bell’s cousin, who recorded the incident, said she immediately tried to save him.
Bell is in stable condition at the hospital after ingesting the bleach, but it is unclear how he was able to obtain it in the courtroom.
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“I was the only one who jumped in and tried to get him help,” she told Local 10. “[It’s] very emotional for the whole family. We thought we were going to lose Jermaine that day.”
Miami-Dade County Corrections and Miami-Dade Police are investigating the incident.
Miami-Dade police did not respond to FOX News Digital’s request for comment.
