A mother living in the Lake Sumter Apartment Homes was arrested after allegedly attacking a child who interrupted her cigarette break by calling her an “elephant.”
Samantha Dawn Nelson, 32, was arrested Monday night by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies on a felony charge of child abuse.
Deputies had been called at about 8 p.m. to the apartment complex at County Road 466 and Cherry Lake Road to investigate a report of a disturbance.
Upon their arrival, Nelson said she had been smoking a cigarette when the 12-year-old called her an “elephant.” She “confronted” him and began taking pictures of him because she said he had been causing disturbances at the apartment complex by “knocking on people’s doors in the middle of the night.”
The Maryland native was taken into custody and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center. Bond was set at $2,000.
Nelson had been arrested Oct. 14 on charges of driving under the influence and child neglect after a single-vehicle crash in the Spanish Springs area of The Villages. She had a child with her at the time of the accident. She admitted she had been drinking beer and peppermint schnapps. Nelson struggled through field sobriety exercises and provided breath samples that registered .279 and .272 blood alcohol content. She later pleaded no contest in the case and was placed on probation for one year. Her driver’s license was also suspended for one year. She was ordered to seek an alcohol evaluation and to enroll in a parenting class.
