Cops: Man Ripped Door Handle Off Boca Raton Hospital Security Car Door, Threw It At Officer

Hershel Merritt (Photo: Palm Beach County Jail)

A local man has been charged with ripping the door handle off a security vehicle at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and throwing it at the security officer in the car, striking him with it.

Hershel Merritt, 32, of Coral Springs, was arrested in connection with the Feb. 2, 2026 incident that occurred at 6:59 p.m., according to a police report. The report stated that a security officer called police reporting a man had approached his marked security vehicle at the hospital’s parking garage and asked for a ride to the front entrance of the facility. The security officer told the man, later identified Merritt, that he was unable to do so.

“Merritt then became upset, grabbed the driver s side door u handle, and broke it off,” the police report alleges. “Merritt then threw the handle at [the officer], striking him on the left cheek of his face against his will.”

After police arrived, Merritt allegedly told the responding Boca Raton officers that he was “confused about where he needed to go to visit his mother in the hospital.” When he was told he could not receive a ride to the entrance, the report stated, he is alleged to have become angry and grabbed the door handle, attempting to open it.

“Merritt stated that he did not remember what he did with the handle afterward,” the report said, though he allegedly told another officer on the scene that he intentionally threw it at the security guard. A supervisory security employee at the hospital estimated the damage to the vehicle would be in excess of $1,000.

Merritt was charged with battery on hospital staff, unarmed burglary of a vehicle, and criminal damage to property in the amount more than $1,000. He was freed on a combined $8,000 bond.