Man arrested last week for stalking booked on new charge of deliberately backing into occupied vehicle at Walmart

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Christopher Brandon West, 32, who was arrested on Saturday for stalking and child neglect, has now been charged with aggravated assault and property damage after being identified as the suspect who threw eggs at a vehicle in a Walmart parking lot and then deliberately backed into the victim’s vehicle three times.

At about 9:19 p.m. on July 12, just before he allegedly threw eggs at a neighbor’s vehicle and front door, the victim told a responding Gainesville Police Department officer that when she made a complete stop while leaving the parking lot of the Walmart in Butler Plaza, a man threw an egg at her vehicle. She said she put her car in Park, got out, and argued with the man, who also got out of his vehicle.

The victim said the man got back into his vehicle and backed into her vehicle twice while she was still standing outside her vehicle and once when she was inside the vehicle, trying to take a picture of the man’s license plate; the man then drove away.

The officer estimated that the victim’s vehicle sustained several hundred dollars in damage to the side mirror on the driver’s side, but the victim was uninjured.

A witness reportedly gave the officer a video of the incident that corroborated the victim’s account of the incident.

The victim reportedly positively identified West in a photo line-up.

West has two local misdemeanors (non-violent) from 2013. Judge Kristine Van Vorst ordered him held without bail on the aggravated stalking charge, pending a hearing on a motion from the State Attorney’s Office to hold him without bail until trial. Judge Van Vorst added $30,000 bail on the new charges if a judge orders bail on the original charges.

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.