Thedailymiaminews– Two years after claiming to have killed his father in self-defense, a teenager who is accused of stabbing his mother to death in Florida can be seen talking to his grandmother in a bodycam footage that was only recently released. In the video, the teenager is heard telling his grandmother that he told his mother, “I’m not a murderer,” less than a year before allegedly taking her life.
“I was telling my mother that I am not a psychopath,” she said. In a bodycam footage that was caught by a deputy with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and broadcast by a local Fox station on Tuesday, Collin Griffith, who is 17 years old, can be heard informing his grandma.
“I’m not a murderer,” he recalled saying to his mother, Catherine Griffith, who was 39 years old at the time, during a quarrel that they were having in November 2023. This fight resulted in the police being called, and he was arrested for domestic violence during the subsequent investigation. “I’m just trying to leave as peacefully as possible or to coexist amicably. On multiple occasions, she yelled at me to be quiet, and when I refused to comply, she struck me.
As the video was being recorded, Griffith, who is currently facing charges of first-degree murder, was sitting in the back of a police car and having a conversation with his grandmother. It is possible to hear him telling a deputy that he is “in a constant state of fight or flight” and that he is stressed out by the possibility of him assaulting his mother.
The statement that Griffith makes is as follows: “If I think she’s going to do something, even if she’s not, I might act.” I’m not going to, like, lose my mind or anything like that to you. But to tell you the truth, I’m not sure.”
After that, the deputy continues by asking, “Are you not certain that you won’t hurt your mother?”
In response, Collin says, “Only if she makes an attempt to hurt me.”
According to the officials of the Polk County Police Department, Griffith is currently incarcerated in Polk County for the suspected murder of his mother on September 8. In November of 2023, the bodycam film was obtained in Auburndale, which is approximately 50 miles east of Tampa. The location in which the murder took place was a community for people aged 55 and older. According to Griffith, his grandmother lives there.
After what is believed to have been the murder of his mother, Griffith allegedly contacted the police and told a dispatcher that they “had a very long fight and she fell on a knife.” It was reported by the police that they discovered Catherine Griffith with multiple stab wounds to her neck. During a press conference held in September, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd stated that it was impossible for her injuries to have been the result of an accident alone.
According to Judd, “the medical examiner made the statement that it is simply not reasonable or plausible that she died in the manner that he said she did.” Simply put, it did not take place.
According to the allegations, Griffith killed his father in Oklahoma in February of 2023, but he was able to avoid punishment by successfully claiming that he was acting in self-defense. According to Judd, who stated that Griffith shown “zero remorse,” he was supposedly acting “calm, cool, and collected” when he was confronted by Florida deputies following the incident that resulted in the death of his mother.
“He looked the deputy in the eye and said, ‘I know my rights,'” Judd recalled Griffith saying. “I know my rights.” The phrase “I want an attorney”
In the bodycam video from November 2023, Griffith’s grandmother can be heard telling the police that the teenager had decided that he did not want to continue living with his mother before she was murdered.
In her statement to a deputy, she states that Collins had no desire to return home. Then I told her, ‘You don’t have a choice; you have no other option but to return home.’ After that, he responded, “No, I want to be in foster care,” and even the corporal told him that being in foster care is not beneficial to him. You have certain problems that you need to try to solve.
According to officials from the PCSO, Griffith allegedly “stomped on his mother” and shoved his mother to the ground before calling the police. This occurred after his mother had decided to take away his privileges to play video games. However, Griffith’s argument that he was acting in self-defense was unsuccessful, and he was sentenced to jail.
“I’ll kill myself, or I’ll kill my mother by shooting or stabbing her,” Griffin allegedly said in a statement that led to his involuntary commitment for mental health reasons two months prior to the incident. According to officials from the police department, Griffin was committed for mental health reasons by an involuntary commitment.
The authorities in Polk County have requested that the prosecutor file charges against Griffith as an adult although he is currently being held without bond.
A contribution was made by Marisa Sarnoff to this story.