- March 5, 2025
An elderly Palm Coast man was arrested Monday after he stabbed his caregiver with a pair of scissors. The man, August Lindguist, suffers from dementia and will be given a mental health evaluation to determine whether his medical condition prompted the incident.
Lindguist’s caregiver, James Milton, had been working with him for several months. The two lived together in a home in the F-Section of Palm Coast.
Monday evening, Milton was talking on the phone while sitting on a cooler at the end of his dock, when Lindguist walked out of this garage with his right hand behind his back. In his left hand, he held a small gardening tool.
Milton asked Lindguist what was wrong. In response, Lindguist took his hand from behind his back, revealing a pair of scissors with a red handle. Lindguist raised his hand and drove the scissors at Milton, hitting his left forearm and leaving a one-inch stab wound.
Milton tried to step away from Lindguist, but he had little room to maneuver on the dock, and instead fell from the dock and into the Intracoastal Waterway. Lindguist stood above Milton, yelling at him and blocking his attempts to climb out of the water.
Milton started to scream that he’d been stabbed. A neighbor heard his cries and called 911.
Eventually, Lindguist walked away and Milton was able to climb over the seawall and onto land, where he ran around toward the front of the house and met deputies who had just arrived on scene. Milton told them that Lindguist was in the early stages of dementia, but that during the incident, he appeared coherent and aware of who Milton was.
Lindguist was placed under arrest for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and transported to the Flagler County Inmate Facility. After hearing Milton’s story and calling Lindguist’s son, who lives in Connecticut, a responding deputy decided that Lindguist’s actions may have arisen from his medical condition. A Baker Act form was completed and left at the jail. Lindguist’s mental health will be evaluated by a doctor.
Milton’s injuries were treated on scene. He refused transport to the hospital.
