They were at Panda Express in a Florida mall. Then came the punches and flying chair
A trip to get Chinese takeout food turned violent a Naples, Florida, mall Tuesday.
According to a police report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, officers from the Naples Police Department responded to a call of a “fight in progress” inside the food court at the Coastland Center Mall around 4 p.m.
Bruce Edward Gordon, 37, told officers the juvenile victim approached him in the line at Panda Express without provocation and called him a “b----” before throwing a cup of water on his shirt.
He started a fight at the Chick-fil-A drive-thru, Florida cops say. Things escalated.
The Naples resident said he then turned around and punched the girl multiple times in “self-defense” before the girl’s brother hit him with a chair.
A witness in line with both the suspect and victim had a very different account: Abdiel Martin told officers the girl asked Gordon to leave her alone after he wouldn’t stop flirting with her, according to the complaint.
Gordon then became “irate” and called the girl a “b----” before heading to his table.
While the parties were separated, the witness said Gordon then went back to the victim and “began to punch her several times in the face until she was unconscious, then proceeded to stomp on her as she was laying on the ground and not moving,” said the report.
A Big Lots shoplifter managed to elude cops for hours. She hid in an unlikely place.
Martin said Gordon continued to stomp on the victim until her brother threw a chair at him. Gordon then collected his things and left the area, with mall security in tow.
Paramedics treated the victim at he mall for a cut to her forehead, “large knot on the back of her head and multiple bruises on her chin and lip.”
She was taken to Naples Community Hospital North and treated for a “severe concussion” as well as the other “multiple injuries.”
Gordon remained in custody on a battery charge Friday at the Collier County Jail on $25,000 bond.
The charge was upgraded to a felony due to a prior battery conviction, according to Collier County court records, which show the victim received a restraining order against Gordon.
A court date is set for Nov. 2.
