Gainesville Police arrested a local man Wednesday morning for reportedly hitting another man on the head with a metal folding chair at the St. Francis House cafeteria.
Just before 10:50 a.m., Kelly Youngblood, Jr., 70, walked into the cafeteria of the homeless shelter on South Main Street clutching a 3-foot-long stick, according to a police report.
As Shane Michael Harrell, 33, was eating his lunch, Youngblood came up from behind and began to argue with him.
During the fight, Youngblood put the stick down on a nearby table and proceeded to pick up a metal folding chair.
He then hit Harrell in the head with the chair three times, according to the report. Harrell tried to get away from the fight, but Youngblood began chasing him with the stick.
Youngblood told police that Harrell borrowed a phone charger and didn’t return it, thus treating him like “an old fool,” according to the report.
Paramedics at the scene saw a lump on Harrell’s head where Youngblood had hit him, but there was no mention of him being taking to the hospital in the report.
Youngblood was taken to Alachua County Jail on a charge of aggravated battery.
As of press time, he is being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
In July, Youngblood was charged with battery on a firefighter but was unable to stand trial due to illness, according to court records.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 1/23/2015 under the headline “Police: Local man arrested for hitting another man with a metal chair at St. Francis"]
