A Villager convicted last year of displaying a gun during a dispute over a dog has been arrested after allegedly trying to run down another man in his SUV.
Martin Lewis Levine, 58, of the Village of Fenney, was arrested Tuesday night at his home at 5635 Whitetail Ave. on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Sumter County sheriff’s deputies went to Levine’s home to investigate a complaint that Levine tried to run down another man at the Dollar General store on Warm Springs Avenue in Coleman.
He said Levine had been standing behind him in line at the store and made a comment about the “cashier being slow and not waiting on him fast enough,” the arrest report said. The other man made an unknown comment, prompting Levine to ask him if he wanted “to take it outside.”
The man went out to the parking lot and spotted a SUV coming at him at a high rate of speed in an attempt to “run him down,” the report said. Levine also made threats to physically harm the other man, who feared the 250-pound Levin could beat him up.
A female clerk backed up the man’s account of what happened. She also said Levine had cursed at her and kicked a “wet floor” sign in the store.
The license plate number of Levine’s SUV had been captured and deputies went to his home. The Bronx, New York native was taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center
Levine had been arrested Nov. 14 after a verbal altercation with another individual whose dog was running loose in a dog park in the Village of Fenney. During the argument, Levine raised his shirt, displaying a black handgun, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. He reportedly used profanity when he threatened to shoot the dog owner in the head. It was witnessed by several people.
Levine’s black semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .380-caliber handgun was seized by police when he was arrested at his home on Whitetail Avenue on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon – a third-degree felony. The gun had been loaded with six live rounds.
Levin’e lawyer successfully negotiated the charge down to a misdemeanor. Levine was sentenced to probation for one year and ordered to perform 30 hours of community service.
In a separate case, Levine completed traffic school last year after he was ticketed for speeding in a construction zone, also in Sumter County.
