A 65-year-old resident of The Villages was arrested after a fight Sunday afternoon over dog excrement in the Village of Liberty Park.
A Villager told Sumter County sheriff’s deputies he had gone for a walk with his dog near the Liberty Park pool shortly after 3:30 p.m.
When deputies arrived at the scene, blood was coming from the man’s face, hands and leg.
He said his dog had been using the restroom at a grassy area near the pool when a man later identified as 65-year-old John William Marcus asked him if he was going to clean up after his dog. Marcus was standing with his arms folded staring at the man and his dog, the man said. Marcus then got into his golf cart and drove toward the man, and asked again if he was going to clean up after his dog. Marcus then chest bumped him and punched him. The two struggled and wound up on the floor of the golf cart. The golf cart started rolling forward and both fell out.
Marcus began heading toward the man again, but a third person intervened.
Marcus later told a deputy, “I know I messed up, he said what he said to me and I just snapped.”
He was arrested on a charge of battery and a charge of criminal damage to property for breaking the man’s bifocals.
Marcus was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $2,000 bond.
