A motorcyclist has been arrested in a road rage incident at Lake Deaton Plaza in The Villages.
A man said he was driving his rented 2022 Dodge Ram pickup at about 1 p.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of Morse Boulevard and State Road 44, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. While traveling north of Morse Boulevard, the man in the pickup and the motorcyclist, later identified as 61-year-old Frederick Charles Nelson of Wildwood, “were involved in a verbal road rage incident,” the report said.
The pickup driver told deputies he “disengaged from the road rage incident” and turned right onto State Road 44 heading for the Circle K gas station at Lake Deaton Plaza. He said he was traveling eastbound on State Road 44 and saw that the motorcycle was following him. He parked at a fuel pump and Nelson approached him. The driver’s side window of the pickup was rolled down and Nelson “became so irate” that he reached through the open window and used his fist to strike the man on the left side of the face. The pickup driver stepped out and attempted to defend himself by kicking Nelson. That prompted Nelson, who stands 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, to force the pickup’s driver’s side door closed, striking the other man’s right leg near the back of the ankle. His injuries were consistent with the account he gave deputies.
The incident was captured on video surveillance at Circle K.
Nelson fled the scene before deputies arrived, but was tracked down at his home. He was arrested on a felony charge of battery and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. He was released after posting $25,000 bond.
