Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Erica Alicia Tucker, 26, was arrested last night and charged with two counts of child abuse without great bodily harm after allegedly beating a child with a belt and then throwing her to the ground in a separate incident because she was angry that the child had eaten part of an order she was delivering to a customer.

Tucker and a friend, referred to as the first witness, were working for a food service delivery company yesterday; the witness was driving, Tucker was in the front passenger seat, and the child was in the back seat. They were delivering an order from Blaze Pizza when the child reportedly opened and ate part of the order; unaware that this had happened, they delivered the order to the customer.

At about 7:44 p.m., they were at Burrito Famous (3412 W. University Avenue) picking up an order when the customer called to say that the order had been partially eaten. According to the arrest report, the child eventually admitted eating part of the order, and Tucker reportedly became angry that they would not be paid for the delivery.

A second witness, who works for Burrito Famous, reported to a Gainesville Police Department officer that a woman matching Tucker’s description pulled a child out of the vehicle and started hitting her repeatedly with a belt. The witness reported that Tucker said, “This will be the last time you steal!” One of the child’s shoes was left in the Burrito Famous parking lot after they drove away.

At about 8:02 p.m., while on the way to deliver another order, the first witness’s vehicle broke down, and they had to pull over into the parking lot at the Shoppes at Thornebrooke (2441 NW 43rd St.). Angry that they would also not be paid for that order, Tucker allegedly lifted the child off the ground, slapped her, and “body slammed” her into the asphalt parking lot.

A third witness told an officer that the child’s head hit the pavement. He reported that he heard Tucker yell, “You’re going to wish you were never born” and said he heard the child crying.

The officer reported that in response to questions about the incidents, Tucker’s friend said she had been walking back from Arby’s when she saw Tucker drop the child to the ground.

Post Miranda, Tucker reportedly admitted that she had “whooped” and “beat” the child at Burrito Famous because the child had repeatedly been caught stealing and talking to her hasn’t helped. She said she hit the child “5 or 6, maybe 7” times on her thigh, using her hand, because “[she] was mad.” The officer reported that she “completedly minimized the situation and omitted the entire incident with the belt.”

Tucker reportedly said she made the child get out of the vehicle at Thornebrooke because “if she and [the first witness] couldn’t be comfortable, neither could [the child].” She reportedly said she “jacked [the child] up,” explaining that this meant she lifted her off the ground by the shirt, so they were face to face. She reportedly admitted that she yelled at the child and let go of the child, causing her to fall to the ground and into a puddle of water.

The officer reported that the child’s pants were wet, consistent with landing on wet pavement. The child reportedly said the incident began after she ate part of a delivery order because she was hungry. She said Tucker got a belt and hit her all over her body in the Burrito Famous parking lot and that she had hit her head on the ground multiple times, both at Burrito Famous and in the Shoppes at Thornebrooke parking lot. The officer noted that the child only had one shoe on, and she said the other one was left at Burrito Famous. The child was taken to the UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital as a precaution.

The officer noted that Tucker, the first witness, and the child have been transient, living in various hotels around Gainesville.

Tucker has no local criminal convictions, but a sworn complaint for child neglect was filed against her in July. Judge Susan Miller-Jones ordered her held without bail, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold her without bail until trial.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.