A Leesburg woman was arrested for battery after allegedly punching her daughter over paying for drinks in the drive-thru of a tea store.
An officer was dispatched to HTeaO, located at 914 N. 14th St., around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 27, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. The call was about two women in an active physical altercation in the drive-thru.
Upon arrival, the officer met with the victim who stated she had just been in a physical altercation with her biological mother, 44-year-old Ceceila Tenise Bell, in the drive-thru. The two had been in a verbal dispute over who was going to pay for drinks, the report said.
Bell began to yell at the victim and then struck her in the face with a closed fist. The victim defended herself and hit her back with a closed fist. The two started hitting each other multiple times until the victim tried to de-escalate the situation by holding Bell down to subdue her, the report said.
The victim had a contusion starting to form on her right eye and redness on her face. The redness appeared to be a new injury. She completed a sworn written statement, initialing “no” for intent to prosecute, the report said.
The officer next spoke with Bell who corroborated that she had been in a verbal altercation with the victim. She noted they began to yell at each other about who would buy a drink. The victim then struck her in the face with a closed fist before trying to put her in a headlock. Bell tried to protect herself by hitting the victim back with a closed fist, the report said.
Bell had a scratch from the top of her forehead to her nose. She did not wish to complete a sworn written statement, the report said.
The officer then interviewed an independent witness, a female employee of the business. She observed the victim and Bell in a verbal altercation in a vehicle at the drive-thru over who would pay for the drinks. She noted that Bell was aggressing the situation by yelling at the victim and not trying to de-escalate the situation, the report said.
The witness did not see who hit the other first but saw the two in an active physical altercation in the vehicle. She stated mutliple times that Bell appeared to be making the incident worse by yelling at the victim, the report said.
Both subjects were biological family members, mother and daughter. They shared a residence as a family unit, which made the incident domestic in nature. Moreover, Bell was determined to be the primary aggressor, the report said.
Bell was subsequently arrested on charge of simple battery (domestic). She was transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting $1,000 bond.