GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Richard Jonathan King, 34, was arrested after authorities said he entered a vehicle and injured a 13-year-old girl while allegedly trying to take a purse from her during a confrontation with the girl’s mother.
An Alachua County Sheriff’s deputy responded to Harbor Cove, located at 6815 W. University Avenue, at approximately 8:11 a.m. on October 5. King reportedly told the deputy he had been arguing with the juvenile’s mother and was attempting to retrieve belongings from a purse the girl was holding. The deputy observed that King’s left eye was swollen and that he was bleeding from the right side of his head, his knuckles and both elbows.
A second victim told authorities that a bystander attempted to intervene as King pursued the girl and her mother. King allegedly punched the bystander in the chest, prompting the bystander to throw him to the ground. Investigators said that appeared to cause King’s injuries.
According to a witness, King chased the juvenile’s mother through the apartment complex parking lot before entering the second victim’s vehicle. He then allegedly tried to pull a purse away from the juvenile, who was inside the car.
The juvenile was reportedly crying and holding her arm. She told deputies that King attempted to take her mother’s purse while she was seated in the vehicle, injuring one of her fingers and causing pain to travel up her arm. She was taken to a local pediatric emergency room for treatment.
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Deputies said they found blood on the vehicle door near where the juvenile had been sitting, as well as in other areas around the vehicle.
After being read his Miranda rights at the hospital, King reportedly acknowledged pulling on the purse while the juvenile was holding it inside the second victim’s vehicle.
King faces charges of burglary of an unoccupied vehicle and child abuse without great bodily harm. He has no prior criminal convictions. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set his bail at $80,000.