LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A Lake County homeowners association leader is accused of chasing a group of door-to-door solicitors through a neighborhood and ramming their van with his pickup truck.
Gerald Tucker faces five counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to a Lake County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit.
Deputies said the confrontation happened June 29 in an unincorporated area near Leesburg.
Investigators said a canvasser was offering free home improvement estimates when Tucker told him to leave. The canvasser complied and called his coworkers to pick him up, according to the affidavit.
The five people told investigators that Tucker pursued the canvasser in a Ford F-150 before using the truck to block their company van. They said Tucker continued following them as they attempted to leave the neighborhood.
The group eventually entered a cul-de-sac, where Tucker allegedly positioned his truck diagonally across the road. The van’s driver attempted to go around the truck, but Tucker accelerated into the van and forced it onto a curb and into a yard, witnesses told deputies.
One person reported feeling the van’s door collapse against his arm. Another said he was not injured.
Tucker told deputies he was the HOA’s vice president and wanted to speak with the driver because the group was not supposed to solicit in the neighborhood. He acknowledged following the van and positioning his truck in the road to stop it, according to the affidavit.
A deputy said cellphone video of the confrontation was consistent with the five witnesses’ accounts. All five submitted sworn statements indicating they wanted Tucker prosecuted.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.