TAVARES, Fla. — A longtime Lake County pastor was arrested for felony battery after video captured him elbowing a man over 65 during a confrontation at Wooton Park earlier this week.
Richard Edward “Rick” Pughe, 60, of Eustis, started HopeCity Church in Mount Dora with his wife and serves as its lead pastor, according to the church’s website.
Tavares Police Department responded to Wooton Park at 1:39 p.m. Tuesday after receiving a report of a battery at a gazebo, according to an arrest affidavit.
The victim, who “became very animated,” told police he was at the gazebo with family members when an argument began over parenting. He told police Pughe walked over and began “intimidating” him.
He said Pughe then struck him in the mouth and nose with his elbow, causing him to fall backward and hit a bench.
The victim’s sister declined to provide a statement and only wanted to say her brother provoked the incident with his “big mouth” and deserved what happened, according to the affidavit.
The victim’s niece told police the family bought food and was going to eat at the gazebo. As they were getting everything ready, her son ran over to her crying and said his uncle was yelling at him. She began arguing with the victim and then left with the children so they could go play. She told police nothing physical occurred between them.
The niece told police she saw Pughe walk over to the gazebo but did not see anything after that.
Police then reviewed video from the City of Tavares that captured the confrontation.
The video showed Pughe walk into the gazebo, approach the victim, and the two began speaking with each other. The victim appeared to attempt to walk around Pughe and Pughe stepped in front of him. The victim then walked behind Pughe and Pughe cocked his arm back and struck the victim with his elbow, causing him to fall backward and hit a bench.
Police identified Pughe through the vehicle he left in and a driver’s license photograph. An officer attempted to contact him by phone, and Pughe later called the Lake County Communications Center and said he wanted to provide his side of the story, according to the affidavit.
Pughe told police he heard a commotion and saw what he believed was a man attempting to chest bump a woman. He said he walked up to the victim and asked what he was doing. He said the man called him a “piece of (expletive)” and said he couldn’t tell him what to do.
Pughe told police he placed himself between the victim and his sister and then turned his back to the victim, but felt him come up behind him and it “felt aggressive.”
“Mr. Pughe allegedly on instinct raised his elbow, and claims (the victim) walked into his elbow and he fell back,” the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.
Pughe said he then walked away and probably should not have put himself in the situation, but the family thanked him for intervening. He then left to pick up his daughter, according to the affidavit.
Pughe later went to the Tavares Police Department and provided a written statement. He was arrested for battery on a person 65 years of age or older, a felony, and transported to the Lake County Jail.
He was released on $2,500 bond.
