A homeless man was arrested after fleeing from a disturbance at a Circle K in The Villages.
A deputy responded to the Circle K at 1527 Buenos Aires Blvd. regarding a verbal disturbance shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A clerk said 44-year-old Joseph Lawrence Baruth had an outburst inside the store, and the clerk wanted him to be trespassed from the property.
After hearing this, the deputy went outside and could hear Baruth yelling up the road from the store. Several bystanders pointed in the direction he had gone, and the deputy found him about 500 feet south of the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 441 and County Road 109. Baruth was running back and forth across the southbound lanes without using the sidewalks on either side, the report said.
His actions created a traffic hazard, so the deputy drove over in his patrol vehicle to speak with him. Instead of stopping, he again crossed all lanes of traffic to the northbound side of the road in what looked like an attempt to avoid law enforcement. The deputy parked in the median and commanded Baruth to halt, the report said.
Baruth continued to walk away and refused to obey any commands. Due to this, the deputy chased him on foot, caught up a short distance away and drew his taser. Baruth surrendered.
Baruth was arrested on a charge of resisting (obstructing without violence) and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center with bond set at $500.