Homeless man arrested for punching man who waved at his girlfriend
Staff report
Updated on August 6 with confirmed location.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Brantley Jim Edward Gardner, 35, was arrested yesterday for allegedly punching a man who waved at his girlfriend.
At about 7 p.m. on August 4, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to GRACE Marketplace. The first victim said he had just been dropped off and thought he saw a woman he knew; he waved at the woman, but then he realized he did not know her. He said a man walked up to him, yelling at him that he should not touch or talk to his girlfriend, and when he turned to walk away, the man punched him on the back of his head, causing redness on the back of his head.
The second victim reportedly said that after Gardner hit the first victim, he told him he shouldn’t have hit the victim in front of the office gate; he said Gardner was still upset and yelled at him before suddenly punching him in the face. The officer reported that the second victim had an open cut on his face.
The officer found Gardner walking back to the front gate and detained him; Gardner reportedly stated spontaneously that he had hit the first victim because he pointed at his girlfriend, and he thought he was threatening her. He said he hit the second victim because the second victim was yelling at him and his girlfriend, including using racial slurs. He said he was only defending his girlfriend from the victims.
The officer reported that surveillance video showed the first victim waving at someone out of the camera’s view before Gardner walks up and yells at him; when the first victim turns to walk away, Gardner punches him in the back of the head. The second incident was not captured on video.
Gardner, who told Court Services he has been in the area for two weeks and lives at GRACE Marketplace, has been charged with battery. He has eight felony convictions (one violent) and 11 misdemeanor convictions (two violent). Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $5,000.
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.
We’re bound to read about him in the next several weeks or months in the Chronicle. He’ll likely be arrested for punching his girlfriend or she may be arrested for stabbing him.
Grace should be relocated in the University of Florida erea of town.
There was a mini grace downtown, the St. Francis house which is no longer there. Another mini grace is the campus walk apartments near sorority rowe. These dirtbags are camped right next to the college girls.
We need a stiff new property tax on law firms, courthouses, and GRACE.
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This county has made the Homeless situation even worse with their philosophy on how to help the Homeless. You cannot fix people’s behavior by feeding it with shelter and food without expecting some type of productivity out of them. It’s very sickening to see how it’s become.
grace strikes again
Bail is way too low. Perp is trouble, violence just waiting for an excuse.
The guy’s been in the area for 2 weeks and staying at Grace …
where is he from and why is he here?
Now that he’s in jail, all kinds of bums will be waving at his girlfriend at Grace…
I can answer the second part of your question — he was invited by City and County leaders.
“An undisclosed location…” So has GPD been directed to hide this address and location from their reports? If the battery happened at the guard house at grace, the correct location address is 3055 NE 28th Drive. Maybe the city dei clowns have something to do with this.
It wasn’t GPD. The jail redacts victim information before sending reports to the media, and this appears to have been an overzealous redaction because the victim was at GRACE. The Clerk’s office did not redact that information, so the copy on the court website shows the location, and the article has been updated.