A Gainesville man was arrested after attempting to gouge out a police officer’s eyes over a bottle of wine Tuesday.
Gainesville Police arrested 39-year-old Troy Delano Allen on charges of resisting an officer, battery on a law enforcement officer and petit theft, according to an arrest report.
An employee said he saw Allen leave Food Max, located at 1304 E. University Ave., with a $6 bottle of Arbor Mist wine without paying for it, according to the report. An officer saw Allen walking in the 1300 block of Northeast First Avenue and told him to stop. Allen started running down the road and cutting through yards until the officer caught up with him in front of a house on Northeast Third Avenue.
While the officer was trying to handcuff him, Allen started punching and kicking the officer. He then tried to gouge the officer’s eyes out with his thumbs, leaving the officer with a swollen eye, bruises and scratches, according to the report. The officer had to use a Taser to subdue Allen, wrote GPD Spokesman Officer Ben Tobias in an email.
Officers booked Allen into the Alachua County Jail on Wednesday at about 2 a.m., where he remained as of press time with a $90,000 bond.
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/12/2013 under the headline "Thief tries to gouge out officer’s eyes"
