A Villager already in legal hot water is being sued in connection with a 2021 crash involving a golf cart.
Thomas Donald Vermeulen, 71, entered a plea of not guilty last week in Sumter County Court to a felony charge of battery. He was arrested earlier this month at this home in the Village of Mallory Square after allegedly inappropriately touching a woman who was resurfacing his driveway.
This month he was also served with a summons in a civil suit in which he is being sued in a May 13, 2021 accident in which his 2013 Ford F-150 pickup collided with a golf cart on Stillwater Trail.
The man driving the golf cart is seeking more than $30,000 in damages and alleges that Vermuelen “negligently and carelessly operated” his vehicle, leading to the accident. The man who filed the lawsuit is being represented by the Bogin, Munns & Munns law firm.
As a result of the accident, Vermeulen was ticketed on a charge of failure to drive within a single lane. He paid a $166 fine, according to court records.
He remains free on $2,000 bond in the battery case.
He was convicted of assault in 1977 in Macomb County, Michigan and in 1995 he was convicted of aggravated assault in Oakland County, Michigan.