Off-duty VCSO deputy stabbed

VCSO VETERAN, FORMER MARINE, STABBED WHILE INTERVENING IN FIGHT ***Non-life-threatening injuries; attacker arrested by Edgewater police*** An off-duty Volusia County sheriff’s deputy who intervened when a neighbor's fight spilled onto his property took a knife to the lower back Saturday evening when he shielded a man from a woman who was trying to stab him. Capt. Cliff Williams, a more than 25-year veteran of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, suffered a non-life-threatening injury in the incident around 4:20 p.m. on Pine Tree Drive in Edgewater. He was treated at a local hospital. Edgewater police charged the attacker, Brittany Bonin, with battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, arson and witness tampering. She had also set fire to the house where the fight started, police said. Williams, who started with the Sheriff’s Office in 1989 after serving in the United States Marine Corps, has a long history of service to the agency. His career included assignments on road patrol, in the courthouse, as a recruiter, in internal affairs and as a watch commander. He led the agency’s Honor Guard, developed a boot camp program for juvenile offenders, and served as assistant commander of District 6, headquartered in DeBary. Williams retired in 2014, but came back in 2015 as director of the PAL program, working to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. Sheriff Mike Chitwood said he was proud to hear that Williams had stepped in to help put a stop to the fight. “It just goes to show you are never truly off duty,” the sheriff said. “He took a knife wound that was meant for someone else because his instinct was to step in as a protector. I’m not surprised he did — he’s proven and tough, and that’s what our men and women are trained to do. I’m just a little surprised the knife didn’t bend when it hit him."