A Door Dash delivery driver has been set free after six months in jail after an incident last year at First Watch at Trailwinds Village on County Road 466A.
Nicholas Julian Fitzgerald, 34, pleaded no contest this past week in Sumter County Court to charges of resisting arrest with violence and trespassing. He was released Wednesday from the Sumter County Detention where he had been held since his Oct. 5 arrest.
He was placed on probation for two years and has been ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.
The manager of First Watch contacted law enforcement because Fitzgerald had been acting inappropriately at the restaurant, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. The manager asked that Fitzgerald be removed from the eatery.
When an officer arrived at First Watch, the manager pointed out Fitzgerald who was standing by the front door wearing a Door Dash Delivery face mask. The officer informed Fitzgerald that he was no longer welcome in the restaurant and needed to leave.
Fitzgerald would not acknowledge the police officer or make eye contact with him. The officer put his hand on Fitzgerald’s elbow in an attempt to guide him out of the restaurant.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t touch me,” Fitzgerald told the officer.
Fitzgerald proceeded to ignore the officer, who again attempted to guide Fitzgerald out of the restaurant.
Fitzgerald “immediately became physically violent” and used his hands to strike the officer.
The officer drew his non-lethal electronic control weapon and ordered the Virginia native out onto the patio area of the restaurant. He continued to be “verbally aggressive” toward the officer, jumped into his car and fled to the nearby Publix grocery store where he was apprehended.