Robert Boast charged with aggravated assault in Sarasota County case
During an incident that occurred close to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, two Sarasota County Sheriff’s deputies ended up firing at a suspect who had pointed a gun at them and two other deputies who had responded to a 911 call, the Sheriff’s Office reported on April 3.
The deputies immediately rendered first aid to the suspect as they awaited the arrival of Sarasota County Fire Department personnel, a news release explained.
The man who aimed his firearm at the deputies has been identified as Robert James Boast, 55, the release added. “He was transported to a local hospital for treatment” and was listed in critical, but stable condition early in the afternoon of April 3, the release noted.
The Sarasota County Detention Center booking records for Boast say his address is 1609 Pennsylvania Ave. in Bradenton.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader inquiry this week, Matthew Binkley, manager of the Sheriff’s Office’s Community Affairs Division, explained that he could provide no update on Boast’s condition because of the federal health care privacy law known as HIPPA.
About 6:25 p.m. on April 2, the news release said, Sheriff’s Office Patrol deputies responded to a 911 call that the agency’s Emergency Operations Bureau had received “regarding a reported disturbance.”
The release added, “At approximately 6:34 p.m.,” four deputies arrived in the 2100 block of 59th Street in Sarasota, where they found “an adult male seated behind the residence.” Upon seeing the deputies, the release indicated, “the individual removed a handgun from his waistband. Deputies issued clear verbal commands for the subject to drop the weapon,” the release added.
The man “subsequently pointed the gun in the direction of one of the deputies. In response to the immediate threat, two deputies discharged their agency issued weapons,” the release said.
Boast was arrested on an “outstanding Manatee County warrant for Violation of Pretrial Release: Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon,” the release noted.
The News Leader learned from Boast’s Sarasota County jail booking records that he also was wanted on a Manatee County charge of battery. The total bond on the Manatee counts was $10,000.
A search warrant was obtained for the residence, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office news release said.
“This incident remains an active and ongoing investigation,” it pointed out.
As part of his response to the News Leader’s request this week for an update on the case, Binkley of Community Affairs wrote in an April 7 email, “A search warrant was executed at the incident location on 59th Street and the scene was processed by the Crime Scene Unit. The evidence and information collected at the scene is consistent with the known synopsis of the incident. The investigation led to charging Boast with aggravated assault.”
The Sarasota County Detention Center booking record for Boast says that no bond was set on that aggravated assault count.
‘A danger to himself’
The Probable Cause Affidavit regarding the Sarasota County shooting says the incident occurred at 2151 59th St. in Sarasota. That address is where an aunt of Boast lives, the affidavit explains.
He “had been visiting [her] the past several days,” prior to the shooting, it notes.
The person who called 911 reported that Boast was armed with a handgun “and was a danger to himself” and his aunt, the affidavit adds.
After the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived and found Boast “in some foliage along a long driveway behind the residence,” the affidavit continues, the deputies “commanded Robert to show his hands. … Robert immediately pulled his shirt up and unholstered a handgun from the front inside of his waistband and racked the slide, and then pointed the weapon in the direction [of one of the deputies].”
The affidavit says that that deputy “fired his agency-issued rifle at Robert, to which Robert responded by turning away.”
When the same deputy verbally commanded Boast to drop the gun, the affidavit adds, “Robert, while blading his body position against [the deputy] began manipulating his handgun again, at which point [the deputy] fired his rifle at Robert again.”
A second deputy on the scene “fired two rounds from his agency-issued handgun at Robert after fearing for [the first deputy’s] safety,” the affidavit points out.
During a later interview with the aunt, the affidavit says, the aunt “indicated Robert knew of his [Manatee County] warrant and [had] made numerous statements about not going back to jail.”
The affidavit also notes that Boast “suffered several gunshot wounds and was immediately treated on scene and transported to the hospital for further medical care.”
The Manatee County aggravated battery case
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the Manatee County case explains that Boast was charged with Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon following an incident at the Publix store standing at 6030 14th St. W. in Bradenton.
The victim and accompanying witness had exited their vehicle and were headed to the store, it says. As Boast was driving past the victim, it continues, Boast yelled “things about [the victim’s] being Mexican and that [the victim] needed to go back to where he came from.”
One witness reported realizing “something bad was about to unfold, so she decided to start recording on her cell phone. The victim had some choice … words with [Boast] but continued to walk in the crosswalk towards the store,” the affidavit notes.
Then Boast stopped his truck in the crosswalk, blocking the victim’s path of travel, the affidavit says. The victim “decided to walk around the truck to go inside the store. As the victim was walking behind the truck,” the affidavit notes, Boast “threw the truck into reverse and accelerated, striking the victim as he passed by.”
The victim was able to keep walking, the affidavit says, so he went up to the driver’s side window. “As soon as he did that,” it adds, Boast “pepper sprayed [him]” and then fled the scene.
Boast was arrested later that day at his residence, the affidavit notes.
During a law enforcement interview after his arrest, the affidavit says, Boast admitted to the argument at Publix and said that he sprayed the victim after the victim “reached into the cab of his truck,” the affidavit continues.
However, the affidavit points out, video footage from the witness’ cell phone “showed the victim in a verbal confrontation with [Boast, who told the victim,] ‘I’ll run over your ass boy’ and proceeded to call the victim a ‘Piece of s**t ni**er.’ ”
The video also made it clear that Boast sprayed the victim immediately after the victim ran up and approached the driver’s side of the truck, the affidavit says.
“The victim was not seriously injured,” it notes. Emergency medical personnel treated him at the scene, it adds.