On Saturday, January 10, 2026, at about 10:19 pm, deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office responded to a crash scene at County Road 54 and O’Connor Road, northwest of Lakeland. 

The crash was a minor collision between two pickup trucks.

One of the drivers was 46-year old Jamie Dean Mathis of Dade City. 

Mathis exited his vehicle and aggressively approached the people from the other truck and their friends who had been in another vehicle that was not involved in the crash. 

According to victim and witness statements, Mathis verbally threatened the group, and punched an 18-year male in the face.
 
All of the friends quickly got back into their two vehicles in an effort to get away from Mathis, but he grabbed one of the door handles and tried to open it. 

After his attempt to open the door failed, Mathis yelled that he was going to get a gun and shoot them all.

The group drove away from the scene and called 911.

Deputies responded to the scene and located Mathis who was taken into custody while the incident was investigated.

The pickup truck that Mathis had been driving was reported stolen out of Pasco County. 
Nobody from the group actually saw Mathis with a firearm, and no firearm was found at the scene.  

During an investigative interview, Mathis denied having a gun with him, but told the detective that if he did have a gun on him, he would have shot every one of them. 

Jamie Dean Mathis was arrested and transported to the Sheriff’s Processing Center. He was charged with: Attempted Burglary of Conveyance (F2), Battery (M1), Assault (7-counts, M2), and Leaving the Scene of a Crash (M2).

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene to handle the recovery of the stolen vehicle. Additional criminal charges on Mathis are anticipated from Pasco County in reference to their stolen vehicle investigation.