Gainesville man arrested for kicking down door, hitting woman

Staff report

Updated on March 10 with bail information.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kelvin Lee Pritchett, 40, was arrested last night for allegedly kicking down a neighbor’s door and hitting her in the face.

At about 10:36 p.m. on March 1, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to The Park apartment complex (3643 SW 20th Avenue), where multiple callers had reported a man screaming outside the victim’s apartment while kicking and banging on the door. The officer reported that when he arrived, Pritchett was standing outside the victim’s apartment, coated in a substance that turned out to be cooking oil, and kicking the door.

The victim reportedly said Pritchett was inside her apartment when they started arguing, and she tried to get him to leave, but he refused, so she threw his wallet outside and locked the door when he went out to get it; she said she armed herself with a pot full of cooking oil that was still hot and retreated to the kitchen after she heard the door being kicked. When the door flew open, Pritchett allegedly ran to the kitchen and hit the victim on her face, and she threw the cooking oil on him in self-defense. Pritchett left the apartment at that point.

The officer noted that the victim had a small cut with significant swelling on her face.

The victim said Pritchett does not live at her apartment and does not have a key; she said he is only allowed inside with her consent, and she withdrew the consent when she told him to leave and locked the door behind him.

Post Miranda, Pritchett reportedly said he was asleep inside the apartment when he was attacked in bed. He said he was splashed with cooking oil during his argument with the victim, but he did not say anything about hitting her; he said he didn’t know how her face got injured. He reportedly admitted that the victim briefly locked him out of the apartment but said she eventually opened the door, and he pushed his way into the apartment while she pushed on the door, trying to close it.

Pritchett reportedly confirmed that he does not live at the victim’s apartment or have a key to the victim’s apartment and said he has his own apartment in the same complex. He denied kicking or breaking the door.

The officer noted that the door frame was broken to the point where the door can no longer be secured, and he reported that he saw Pritchett hitting and kicking the door when he arrived.

Pritchet has been charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and domestic battery. He has two felony convictions and nine misdemeanor convictions and has served two state prison sentences, with his most recent release in 2019. Judge Meshon Rawls ordered him held without bail pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial. On March 10, Judge James Colaw denied the motion and set bail at $60,000; Pritchett’s attorney immediately filed a motion for bond reduction.

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.