Man on probation arrested after allegedly threatening victim with large piece of concrete and spitting on officers
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Samuel McArthur Royster, Jr., 39, was arrested Friday morning and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery on an officer, and resisting an officer with violence after allegedly threatening a victim with a large piece of concrete, then threatening and spitting on officers.
A Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the 100 block of NE 16th Avenue at about 10:28 a.m. on October 6 and reportedly found Royster walking away from the victim, still holding a large piece of concrete. The victim told the officer that Royster said he was going to “knock him out”; Royster also reportedly said he believed people were following him and that he intended to kill them.
The officer ordered Royster to drop the concrete, and he did, but he allegedly refused to stop walking away and made threats toward the officer. Royster reportedly walked into the woods nearby, then walked in and out of the woods, yelling threatening statements at officers.
Officers were finally able to detain and handcuff Royster, but he allegedly continued making verbal threats, saying things like, “I shouldn’t have put my pistol in the woods, I should have shot you in your face b****.” He also allegedly spit on two officers.
Royster was transported to UF Health Shands to be medically cleared and was Baker Acted. Officers were reportedly unable to interview him because of his violent behavior and threats.
Royster is currently on probation in Alachua County for failure to return a rental vehicle, and he has an active warrant out of Georgia; his address was listed as Orlando prior to his July 2023 arrest, but he is now listed as a GRACE Marketplace resident. The National Crime Information Center has placed a “Violent Tendencies” alert on him, stating that he had previously assaulted law enforcement officers and said he had a gun; he reportedly said that “if he was stopped again he was not asking questions and would open fire as soon as [the officer] stepped out of their vehicle.”
Bail information is unavailable on weekends.
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.
Another fine outstanding citizen of marketplace. And waste of taxpayers money by giving shelter, food to these assholes who thank us by this type of behavior
Ever been out to the Marketplace, it’s a mental clinic where the patients are free to come and go. The place should be for homeless people that need a place to stay and something to eat not every nut case in Gainesville to gather and take the bus to wreak havoc on the citizens who help support Grace.
& u also need to shut up 🤣🤣🤣
Wow, that’s your solution. Although some comments may sound extreme, people are frustrated. Grace is nothing more than a Welcome Center for some to hide, they know there is no background check. So, you could have a Sex Offender wondering around a woman who really needs help and shelter. But, we don’t want to offend no one by gathering their criminal history.
If you’re woke feelings are hurt don’t come on here 90% of us could care less about your feelings
So, Grace Marketplace lets him in, with a warrant out of Georgia, and on probation with violent tendencies.
Why weren’t the police alerted when he showed up?
Because GRACE is controlled by parasitic Dem donors and lawyers.
Grace Marketplace seems to have the good intention to help those who are currently homeless for whatever reason. Some do end up homeless for reasons beyond their control, and need some assistance to recover. I’m in favor of helping in these cases.
But the chronically homeless, who could work, but choose not to provide for themselves, would not seem to be appropriate candidates for taxpayer funded help – if homelessness is their chosen lifestyle, they should make that work for themselves without relying on taxpayer funding.
Then one other category is the chronically homeless, not out of choice, but because of severe, incapacitating mental illness. It seems that our society overcorrected from the abuses of the asylums of the past, and now rather than living as wards of the state as they used to, the mentally ill are left to fend for themselves as best they can, helped some by Grace and others, but not with the full care and medical supervision that they need to keep themselves and society safe, until they are arrested and end up in jail or prison.
This man is clearly in the last category. He’s violent and suffers from some delusions. I feel sad for him that he sees the world the way he does, but that doesn’t mean that he should be free to threaten and attack those he mistakes as dangerous. Maybe his condition has been brought on by drug abuse, but maybe he’s just ill, and didn’t bring this on himself. Either way, he’s not receiving care in a facility that could help him – he roams freely until he hurts or threatens to hurt someone, then he’s a problem for law enforcement.
Can’t we do better? I’m not for free rides for those who are just unwilling to work, but people like this man need real help, and they need it before they pick up a block of concrete to attack a wrongly perceived threat. With all the money we spend to deal with the severely mentally ill through law enforcement, couldn’t we try something as a society that’s better than the old abusive institutionalization, and also better than having the severely mentally ill living frightened and unable to care for themselves, potentially endangering themselves and others?
Other homeless are likely to be harmed by the ones who suffer delusions like this man. It’s just awful all the way around. No one is winning in this situation.
The problem I see in empowering the state to make some adults wards of the state for their own and society’s good is that if there is any profit to be made, an incentive to declare citizens incapable to care for themselves is created, and whenever there is power and or money involved, there’s the potential to abuse that authority. No easy answers, but so much suffering.
GRACE was est. because real homeless shelters screen residents for drugs, booze and arrest warrants, and mostly admit women and families (St. Francis and Salvation Army).
The scummy lawyers and bail bondsmen who est. GRACE did so because they needed criminals to have an address and stay in town, or they’d lose money. So they stay and cause more crime, helping pay off law skool loans and bail debt.
Leave the bailbonds industry out of this we had nothing to do with grace and furthermore most of us won’t bond out a person living in grace. To must of a risk
Nail on the head. Absolute. You get it. Its in part our own system that continues the suffering for some. We need an alternative solution for people like this.
That’s at the Circle K near the Duckpond, where GRACE and NGO admins, donors live. Karma for the 3% voters.
“The National Crime Information Center has placed a “Violent Tendencies” alert on him, stating that he had previously assaulted law enforcement officers and said he had a gun; he reportedly said that “if he was stopped again he was not asking questions and would open fire as soon as [the officer] stepped out of their vehicle.”
Oh….so that’s how progressives deal with violent criminals? Issue a ‘violent episodes alert’. That’s it??
Democrat policies hurting law abiding citizens again. Letting criminals run rampant on the streets.