A 66-year-old woman, her boyfriend, and a female neighbor were sitting outdoors at their residence in DeLand listening to music Feb. 10.
Girlfriend went into the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, and, according to the female neighbor, Boyfriend told the neighbor he was going to have sex with her the next day.
Neighbor was shocked and, when Girlfriend came back outside, told her about the comment.
Galled Girlfriend “checked her heart to make sure she was ok and told [Nervous Neighbor] she would take care of it.”
Nervous Neighbor went back to her own apartment “to drink some coffee to help her calm down.” (Seems like a strange beverage to drink to get calm, but whatever.)
Galled Girlfriend confronted Brash Boyfriend, and “[a] verbal altercation started” and then “escalated and became physical when they began shoving one another.”
Galled Girlfriend acknowledged to a DeLand police officer that she pushed Brash Boyfriend first and that he then pushed her.
When the officer asked Brash Boyfriend what had occurred, he told the officer that “Nothing was said between him and [Neighbor] while [Girlfriend] was … inside.”
But, Brash Boyfriend said, when Girlfriend returned, Nervous Neighbor “came up to her and told her that [Boyfriend] said he would ‘[have sex with] her tomorrow.’”
He said Nervous Neighbor was, in fact, “crazy” and had made up the story.
He also said he and Galled Girlfriend only quarreled and “nothing physical happened.”
Based on Galled Girlfriend’s own statements, the police decided that she did push Boyfriend and was the “primary aggressor” in the fight. Therefore, they placed her under arrest and took her to jail.
So who told the truth about Boyfriend’s alleged sexual comment — Boyfriend or Neighbor? Who told the truth about whether there was any violence — Boyfriend or Girlfriend?
What if Boyfriend did speak to Neighbor, but she misunderstood what he said? Perhaps his actual comment was, “I wish good luck to you tomorrow”? Probably not.
— By Keith Allen, based on local police-agency reports. If you have information about a crime, call Crime Stoppers, 1-888-277-TIPS. You could be eligible for a reward.
