A parking-area confrontation at the Brownwood Saturday Farmers Market ended with an 82-year-old Villages Special Events staffer allegedly knocked unconscious and a 52-year-old Oxford man facing a felony charge. Stephen Lowe Queen was arrested at the scene near McAlister’s Deli at 3630 Kiessel Road on Saturday afternoon, accused of punching the staffer in the face during a dispute over a barricaded parking zone.
According to Villages-News.com, which cited a Wildwood police arrest report, the incident unfolded around 2:23 p.m. Saturday at the heavily attended market. The 82-year-old staffer, who works for the Villages Special Events Department, had been stationed in a golf cart near a barricade set up to keep vehicles out of a restricted zone.
Per the arrest-report account described in the outlet’s reporting, Queen approached the staffer after watching him raise his voice at people trying to enter the restricted area, and the two got into a verbal altercation. What happened next is where the two men’s stories diverge sharply.
Conflicting Accounts of the Golf Cart Incident
Queen claimed the staffer intentionally drove the golf cart over his foot during the confrontation, the report notes. The staffer, for his part, told police he may have accidentally run over Queen’s foot while moving the cart — a materially different version of events that the arrest report did not resolve.
The investigating officer reportedly observed marks on Queen’s shoes but found no visible injuries to his legs, according to the same account. Queen admitted to striking the staffer on the left side of the face with a closed fist, the report states, and the staffer told police the blow knocked him unconscious.
Felony Charge and Booking Details
Queen was charged with felony battery on a person aged 65 or older and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center, the outlet reported, before being released after posting a $5,000 bond. Under Florida law, battery against someone 65 or older is reclassified from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, according to Florida Legislature, Online Sunshine.
The same statute also addresses more serious offenses against elderly victims, stating that a conviction for aggravated assault or aggravated battery on a person 65 or older carries a minimum three-year prison term and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the Florida Statutes. It remains unclear what, if any, additional legal proceedings have followed Queen’s arrest.
