BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE— Bradford deputies arrested a 22-year-old Keystone Heights man after he allegedly punched a Sampson Lake-area homeowner for refusing to give him a ride home.
Tristan Kahn Belanger was arrested on Thursday, Jan. 17 for battery.
According to an arrest report, the victim, who lives on County Road 227 near Sampson Lake told a deputy he and his wife were in their home when they heard the defendant screaming outside, demanding a ride.
When the homeowner went outside to ask the man to leave, the defendant struck him in the head and grabbed him around the neck.
“They both fell to the ground when (the victim) struck Tristan in the ribs by his armpit to get him to let go of his neck.” wrote arresting officer Quineisha Armstrong in the report.
Once the homeowner freed himself from the defendant, he told Belanger to leave the property and started to walk toward his house.
When the defendant followed the victim toward the residence, the homeowner told him that if he set foot inside the home, he would be shot.
“Once the threat was made, Tristan then walked in front of the ditch in front of their home and kept yelling and walking in circles,” Armstrong wrote.
The officer added that the defendant told deputies he needed a ride home because he lost his shoes, and his feet were cold. He also said he never entered the yard, never struck the victim and that the homeowner called him names.
Belanger added that he offered the homeowner $5 million in exchange for taking him home.
