Things were anything but cheerful on Happy Lane early Tuesday morning when a 75-year-old man locally known as “Hambone” was arrested following a racial ruckus in his neighborhood.
Paul Hardy was arrested at about 3 a.m. on charges of simple assault, driving under the influence and refusal to submit to a breath test following a 911 call from his trailer park in Lady Lake, according to an arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
When deputies arrived on the scene, they found Hardy’s pickup parked front-bumper-to-front-bumper with another vehicle right in the middle of Happy Lane. The report noted that Hardy and his neighbor, who has a Hispanic surname, have a “prior history.” The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Hardy was reportedly yelling obscenities and racial slurs while banging his bare hands on his neighbor’s truck. The terrified neighbor told deputies he feared the towering Hardy was trying to goad him into a brawl.
It appeared Hardy — who was convicted of drunk driving in 2008 and 2016 — had been drinking. He indicated to deputies that he had been at the American Legion earlier in the evening, but he flat-out refused to provide a breath sample.
He was taken into custody and booked at the Lake County Jail. He was released after posting $500 bond, with jail records indicating he was released on his own recognizance on two of the charges.
This is not Hambone’s first time disturbing the peace. Last year, Hardy made local headlines when he was arrested for inexplicably blaring “ice cream truck style music” throughout the neighborhood.