DELTONA, Fla. — An armed man was shot and killed by a Volusia County deputy during a dispute over cab fare Monday night, investigators said.
Deputies said an argument between the customer, identified as Robert Teter, 39, of Sanford, and a cab driver started at about 6:30 p.m. on Maldive Court in Deltona.
Teter went inside a home to get his credit card, but it was declined, which escalated the fight, deputies said. Teter then tried to write the cab driver a check, but the driver told him he could only accept cash or credit cards.
The taxi driver then called deputies.
When deputies arrived, Teter went inside the home again and came back with a gun, deputies said.
Deputy Kyle Cowger, 28, ordered the suspect to drop the weapon, but he refused, so Cowger shot the man in the doorway of the residence several times, deputies said.
“They challenged the individual and told him to put the gun down. He didn’t put the gun down. Their lives were in danger at which time they fired on this individual. You pull a gun on a cop and don’t drop it, bad things are going to happen,” said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson.
The man was flown to Central Florida Regional Hospital in Sanford where he died.
Cowger was placed on administrative leave with pay while the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.