Last week while on patrol, Quackenbush struggled with a suspect who was suspected of spousal assault.
After the man reportedly grabbed Quackenbush's stun gun and pointed it at the former California Insurance Commissioner, Quackenbush shot the suspect in the abdomen.
The suspect is reportedly hospitalized, and Quackenbush is on the standard paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by Florida officials, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.
Quackenbush has won the statewide race for insurance commissioner in 1994 and 1998, and was considered a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate. But his rising star was tarnished in 2000 when he admitted that insurance companies had secretly paid into two charitable foundations he controlled and were given permission to evade paying what they owed to victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Evidence showed that the Republican official had channeled more than $500,000 into a sports foundation for a league in which his children played. Other evidence showed he accepted a $1 million contribution for his charities from an insurance company at the same time he was deciding to it off the hook for in settlement due to quake victims.
Quackenbush had reportedly moved to Hawaii after his resignation, and his subsequent move into law enforcement in Florida had not been reported. He's been carrying a Lee County badge and gun since 2005.
