A Villager won’t be prosecuted in a golf “etiquette” altercation that made national headlines.
Richard Eric Randell, 76, of the Village of Springdale, was arrested April 29 after the reported attack on a fellow golfer who was transported by ambulance from the De La Vista Executive Golf Course to UF Health-The Villages Hospital. He suffered a “swollen contusion on the left side of his face.” When interviewed at the hospital, the man said Randell told him that “if he reported this that he better move,” according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office.
A witness said Randell began arguing with the other golfer at Hole #4. The witness said Randell was standing on the green near the hole when the other golfer told him to move. Randell responded that he knew the “etiquette of the game.” The argument intensified and the man “flipped off” Randell who approached the man and threatened that if he did it again he would hit him. The man “flipped off” Randell again and he “used his right hand to hit him,” the report said. The other man fell to the ground, but remained conscious.
The story was first reported by Villages-News.com, but was soon picked up by Fox News and Golf Week, among others.
However, the prosecutor’s office announced on Monday the felony charge of battery on a person over the age of 65 will not be prosecuted due to the fact, the evidence is “legally insufficient to prove guilt,” according to State Attorney William Gladson.
