A mother who had been drinking at a restaurant in The Villages was arrested after allegedly attacking her autistic son.
Donna Sue Philipp, 68, of Spring Hill, had been eating and drinking Saturday night at World of Beer at Brownwood Paddock Square, where she had been accompanied by her adult autistic son, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. After they finished eating, Philipp went to the restroom and when she returned she found her son was gone. She was upset when she found him outside the restaurant. Philipp claimed her son had a “meltdown” and struck her in the back. A third person intervened and pushed the son to the ground.
Philipp and her son got into a car to return to the their hotel and during the drive, Philipp continued to “lecture” her son about his behavior. He became “enraged once again” and she recommended he pull into the parking lot of a nearby 7-Eleven.
The son told police that Philipp began “striking him several times in the face and neck while he was driving.” After he pulled into the parking lot of the 7-Eleven, he ran inside for help. A 7-Eleven clerk allowed the son to wait in an employee-designated area until police arrived. An officer noted that the son had suffered a cut on his bottom lip and scratch marks on his neck. His right eye was scraped and swollen and he had a cut above his nose.
Philipp admitted she had been drinking, but denied striking her son. The report noted that Philipp has no previous convictions for battery.
She was arrested on a felony charge of abuse of a disabled adult. She was taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center.
