Ft. White man arrested for battering disabled woman in Haile Plantation

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – William Robert Erickson, 48, of Ft. White, was arrested early this morning after a neighbor heard a woman calling for help in Haile Plantation.

At about 12:37 a.m., Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a caller who said there was a fight going on at a neighboring residence and he heard a woman say, “It hurts, it hurts.”

Deputies found Erickson and the victim on the back patio of the victim’s residence; they reported that the victim was sitting on the ground, curled up, with her knees to her chest.

The victim was reportedly injured in a crash many years ago and has partial paralysis, including an inability to walk steadily. The deputy reported that Erickson and the victim had been friends for several years and Erickson does handyman work for the victim.

The victim reportedly said that Erickson showed up unannounced on February 22, and the two of them sat on the back patio talking and drinking alcoholic beverages. When Erickson asked to go inside to get more alcohol, the victim reportedly said she didn’t want him to go inside, and he allegedly became agitated and shoved her to the ground before hitting her in the face. The deputy reported that the victim had a noticeable injury to her arm.

The victim said Erickson went into her home without her permission and came back outside; she tried to grab her cell phone to call 911, but he allegedly grabbed it from her and threw it into some bushes, depriving her of the ability to call for help. The deputy reported that the only reason law enforcement was called was that a neighbor heard her cries for help.

The neighbor told a responding deputy that he heard a woman yell, “Stop it, stop it, it hurts” multiple times. He also heard her telling someone to leave her residence.

Erickson has been charged with obstructing justice by hindering communication with law enforcement, burglary with battery, abusing a disabled person without great bodily harm, and failing to leave a property after a request by the owner. He has a series of misdemeanor convictions in Alachua and Columbia counties, mostly traffic offenses; he was convicted of contracting without a license in 2017. Judge William Davis set bail at $60,000.

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.