FRUITLAND PARK, Florida—An argument over an air mattress that led to a man allegedly battering a pregnant woman and her elderly grandmother landed the Fruitland Park man in jail early Thursday morning, according to an arrest affidavit.
Fruitland Park Police responded to an apartment shortly before 2 a.m. on Urick Street on a report of a domestic disturbance. When the officer arrived, Charles Levi Brown Jr., 36, was throwing an inflatable mattress outside of the home, while two women, one in her third trimester of pregnancy and the other, 65 years old, were trying to obtain the mattress.
Brown, who is on crutches due to being shot earlier this year in Orlando, was secured and the pregnant victim told police she came to the home to pick up a child she shares with Brown. She was getting her belongings together, which included the air mattress, when Brown became very upset, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and stabbed the mattress to deflate it, according to the affidavit.
The victim said she told Brown the mattress could be deflated outside, and Brown declined and tried to throw the mattress out. The woman tried to pull it back inside and Brown began to hit her and her 65-year-old grandmother. Brown also took the pregnant victim’s keys and threw them. They were later found damaged across the street.
The pregnant victim had a small bruise on her arm consistent with being grabbed; the elderly woman did not have any bruises, the officer noted in the affidavit.
Brown told police the pregnant victim hit him, and he had injuries, but the officer could not find any. He said it was two against one and he was trying to escape the grasp of the two women, but when the officer arrived neither woman was holding onto him, according to the affidavit.
Brown was arrested for aggravated battery on a pregnant woman and battery on a person 65 or older. He was transported to the Lake County Jail, where he is being held on $7,000 bond.
