Democrat Congressional Candidate arrested after refusing to leave event
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
Democrat Congressional Candidate Thomas Beckwith Wells, 70, was arrested this afternoon on the UF campus for resisting arrest without violence. Wells has filed as a candidate for U.S. Representative for District 3.
According to the arrest report, University of Florida Police Department officers working an event at Flavet Field were approached by the event coordinator regarding a man who was reportedly “harassing” the students at the event. The man was later identified as Thomas B. Wells.
The event coordinator told police that she had asked Wells to leave the premises because the event was for UF students only and Wells is not a UF student. She said Wells was handing out cards for his campaign but that he had not gone through “the proper process dictated by the University of Florida in order for him to pass out flyers.” She asked him to leave “due to him making students uncomfortable, and she did not want to make the event politically based.”
Two officers approached Wells and informed him that the event coordinator wanted him to leave, but he allegedly refused. The police officers wrote that Wells stated that he “did not recognize our authority to escort him out.” The two officers grabbed Wells by his arms to escort him out, and Wells allegedly began to “actively resist” their attempts. At that point, they placed Wells on the ground, where he allegedly continued to resist handcuffing by tensing up. After a short struggle, they were able to handcuff him.
Wells has been charged with resisting arrest without violence. He has been released from the Alachua County Jail. We have reached out to him for comment; Wells told us this morning by email that he was released on his own recognizance and will have a statement by the end of today. We will run his statement as a separate article.
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.
Good for them. Any Democrat running for office makes me uncomfortable.
Reason? See current city and county leadership.
He was handing out flyers without permission at
a UF event to promote his candidacy and then
Gets arrested…that’s one way of getting some FREE
Advertising. That mugshot makes Him look like one of the panhandling
Bums around town in the street medians. Have you
Noticed their shopping carts loaded with overflowing
Crap on the sidewalk? There was one guy yesterday on Archer road near Butler Plaza
And it was too much! Where the heck is law enforcement? We need cops like those UPD officers
To get those panhandlers out of the street medians
For conducting commerce without a permit! Since
The interim city manager got her job, the vagrant
Problem has gotten worse. The interim city manager
Needs to get the vagrants out of the street medians
And the shopping carts full of crap off the sidewalks.
The city is looking pretty tacky and crappy with the
Vagrancy problem…they need to pick up the vagrants
And bring them to Grace mkt to get some help…wasn’t
Grace supposed to be a panacea to end this eyesore?
Instead, it’s made the problem worse…”build it and they will come”…
This guy has run for various offices. Two minutes into a conversation with him reveals he is looney. I was shocked at the number of people who voted for him on his last attempt. Way to go Gainesville voters.
They should have used the taser…remember years
Back when UPD used a taser on a student and he
Said “don’t taze me bro”? That guy got a lot of
Press out of that…
What was the event about? The article is silent on it…
Bi9 Family Extravaganza
Sun Jan 30 2022 at 02:00 pm to 06:00 pm
Flavet Field | Gainesville
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Join us Sunday, January 30th from 2pm-6pm at the Bi9 Family Extravaganza! HSA, BSU, AASU, WSA, PSU and IRHA will be hosting a carnival for all its members?? Come out and play games, munch on some yummy food from each org’s food trucks, and win some awesome merch from the orgs. You may even have the chance to dunk some of your favorite e-board members? See you there!
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Publisher/Host — HSA at UF
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(hosted by the Hispanic Students Association.)
Is that Rick Scott’s older brother? just kidding
Uh, what did they arrest him for? Before they charged him with resisting arrest?
It sounds like the police asked him to leave the immediate area where a private event had been scheduled in advance and was being held. The event (a carnival) was only for UF students who are members of specific organizations; presumably those groups had financed the carnival. This was after he had interacted with guests and upset them to the point that they called the police. Then, after trying to reason with him, the police tried to remove him (still not under arrest yet) but he decided to tense up and actively resist their efforts to eject him from the event instead of exercising good judgment and just leaving. As Bugs used to say, “What a Maroon!”
Well….the announcement invited the public. Flavette field is a public space…….I imagine things will work out ok
Everything already worked out okay. The police took the disorderly man away and the disturbance was over.
If you are disrupting an event and the people ask
You to leave & the police come, you leave…I had
A guy who made a disruption in my business today and asked him to leave. The guy was nuts and then went next door & caused problems there…I think my guy was the guy in Alachua Chronicle that tried to rob someone with a knife last week
On NW 1st & NW 14th by the defunct BTW near UF….that guy is out on the street again a week later, revolving door…the guy was out of his mind…
Can’t say this guy behaved well. Gotta watch what we say and do…..
Another left wing conspiracy crank. “Climate change” and the whole nine yards. We’ve seen this movie before, and the ending is bad.