Volusia County, Fla. — Update: A man accused of punching an elderly man over a social distancing comment at a Volusia County Publix has turned himself in, according to the Daytona Beach Shores Police Department.
Surveillance video released Monday, showed a man wanted in connection with the attack and the woman involved in the incident at the store on South Atlantic Avenue.
Monday August 24, 2020-
Daytona Beach Shores police are looking for the man officers say attacked a 75-year-old man because he asked a woman to socially distance in line at Publix.
Police said the elderly man, who recently had heart surgery, was punched outside of the Publix Super Market on South Atlantic Avenue
The victim told police, he was waiting in line at the register when a woman he did not know got in line behind him. He says she moved closer to him than the social distance signs in the store suggest, so he asked the woman to back up some.
In the parking lot, the man said he was approached by a man he believes was about 35 years old. He said the man called him a “gator red neck” and threatened to kill him after punching him in the chest and knocking him to the ground.
Police said the younger man then got into an older model, dark-colored Cadillac and the woman from inside the store was sitting in the passenger seat, and they drove off. The man could face aggravated battery on a person over 65, which is a third-degree felony.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Daytona Beach Shores police at 386-763-5347 or Detective Carrazana dcarrazana@cityofdbs.org.
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