Florida man Jermaine Bell drinks bleach after jury found him guilty of armed robbery

A Florida man drank a cup of bleach in a courtroom shortly after hearing the jury read his verdict finding him guilty of armed robbery.

Jermaine Bell, 38, has served more than three years in prison for the December 2018 robbery he was convicted of. He pointed a gun at Millennium Engine Plating employees while disguised as a courier.

Bell was seen drinking the bleach from a white disposable cup before an officer approached him with a trash can and tried to get the inmate to spit out the liquid. But Bell kept drinking from the cup until he finally sat down.

After drinking the bleach, he immediately became very ill and was transported on a gurney from the Miami courtroom. He was then taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

Bell is in stable condition in the hospital after taking the bleach, but it remains unclear how he was able to receive it in the courtroom. His family also questions why no one intervened when he drank the product.

“I see he’s drinking something that’s not right,” Reverend Jerome Starling, a distant relative of Bell’s, told Local 10. “His attorneys are letting him drink. Corrections that make him drink. Suddenly I see him collapse. And I said how could that happen.”

Starling said it must account for what happened in the courtroom.

Bell’s cousin, who recorded the incident, said she immediately tried to save him.

“I was the only one who jumped up like that and tried to get him help,” she told Local 10. “[It’s] very emotional for the whole family. We thought we were going to lose Jermaine that day.”

Miami-Dade County Corrections and the Miami-Dade Police are investigating the incident.

Miami-Dade Police did not respond to FOX News Digital’s request for comment.