Patricia Cornwall, the former Baywatch actress who has been dubbed "Delta Karen" for punching an 80-year-old man in the face for not wearing a mask, had other brushes with the law and also once threatened to kill her mother and stepfather and kidnap their children, court documents reveal. In fact, she was busted as recently as last month for driving under the influence.
Cornwall, 51, allegedly, fought with cops in Florida last month during an arrest for driving under the influence. Her stepfather too had reported to police after getting threats from Cornwall. The former cheerleader and Playboy model was arrested last week and has been charged with assaulting the elderly man.
Not Law Abiding
Cornwall, who is now a real estate agent and once was a cheerleader for the Raiderettes, had several brushes with the law for being rowdy. So much so that she even fought with cops last month in Florida during an arrest for DUI. She, reportedly, became aggressive with officers after she slammed her gray Nissan into a tree in Santa Rose Beach on November 10, according to court and police documents.
Cornwall was so drunk that she got engaged in a baseless argument with the officers and refused to exit the vehicle and give her name. Finally, when she stepped out in an inebriated state, she started "going after" the first responders, authorities said.
"She said she was not hurt and then became belligerent," a Walton County sheriff's deputy wrote. And then she again got into a fight with the cops.
"Once we stopped her, she tried to fight us," the deputy wrote. "At that point, she was detained for her safety and ours."
The fight continued and officers struggled to pacify her as she was drunk and in no mood to listen. Deputies said they were called to the scene after a tow truck employee in order to help her responded to the crash. The employee told police that he saw Cornwall in the driver's seat as she was trying to reverse the vehicle.
"Upon approaching the defendant for some assistance he detected an odor of alcohol emitting from the defendant [sic] breath," the arrest report said.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, Cornwall had slurred speech and her face appeared "flushed" and she refused to take a breathalyzer and failed the sobriety test. However, after a long struggle, she was arrested and is now due to appear in court on January 10.
Doubts About Mental Health
That, however, is just one of the incidents. Cornwall, who appeared in one of the episodes of 'Baywatch' in the 1990s, is also known as a terror to her family. According to a DailyMail report, she once threatened her mother and stepfather of killing them and kidnapping their children.
Feeling threatened, Cornwall's stepfather, Robert Spoeri, filed a restraining order against her in July 2020 claiming that she made the threats while living at their house.
The restraining order application, filed in a Los Angeles court, mentions that Cornwall claimed she was the real mother of his two children and he feared she "might kidnap them when she has a delusional episode."
This also raises question on Cornwall's mental health, which may be the reason behind her outbursts. According to the restraining order application filed by Spoeri, his stepdaughter, had earlier been detained at least on two or three times by the authorities for mental health reasons.
"Patricia Cornwall is the daughter of my wife Yolanda Spoeri. Patricia Cornwall has threatened to kill Yolanda Spoeri and Robert Spoeri," he wrote.
Spoeri, who is a workers' compensation judge based in Los Angeles, also mentioned in his application about the way he was physically abused. "Patricia kicked me, punched me, threatened to kill me, jumped on me, pulled my hair very hard, pounded my head into the floor, and more, because I would not divulge where her mother was hiding."
"Her real goal was to do far greater injury to her mother," he wrote. "She threatened my wife a few weeks ago and my wife had to hide in the garage and flee and spend the night at a friend's house."
Spoeri suffered "minor cuts and abrasions, headaches, emotional trauma" from her alleged attack. The judge reviewing the application, granted a temporary restraining order but initially denied a "stay-away" order, saying it was unclear whether Cornwall was ill or if Spoeri's house was also her home.
Besides, Cornwall She was previously arrested on December 11, 2020, in Los Angeles for DUI and later pleaded no contest to having a BAL of 0.08 percent or more.
In May, Cornwall was sentenced to 36 months of summary probation and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, according to court records. In addition, she had to enroll in and complete a three-month first-offender alcohol and drug education counseling program.
