A Kissimmee man was arrested for battery after allegedly punching a cleaner guarding the door at 7-Eleven.
An officer responded to a battery involving 44-year-old Jerry Louis Manns at 7-Eleven, 737 S 14th St., around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
A cleaner of the business advised that at 11:20 p.m., he went outside to smoke a cigarette and block the door. The cashier instructed him to do so because she was using the restroom, and she did not want customers coming in at the time, the report said.
Despite being told not to enter, Manns forced his way into the store. The cashier then came out of the restroom and had a verbal interaction with him. Manns proceeded to leave the store and punch the cleaner on the left side of his face, the report said.
The cleaner immediately contacted law enforcement to report the incident, although Manns repeatedly asked him not to. He left the scene and was later found at the Animal Clinic of Leesburg, located at 1231 W Dixie Ave. He was subsequently detained pending further investigation, the report said.
The officer later returned to 7-Eleven to speak with the cashier, who corroborated asking the cleaner to stay outside and tell customers the store would reopen in a few minutes. But when she came out of the restroom, Manns was inside the store. She immediately confronted him, asking why he was inside, to which he replied he was going to beat up the cleaner, the report said.
She looked through the entrance door and asked the cleaner to move aside so Manns could exit. Once he did so, Manns immediately punched his face. He sustained a swollen, red lower lip and a one-inch laceration bleeding from the left side of his nose, the report said.
A check of Manns’s criminal history revealed he had two prior convictions for battery on May 2, 2024, and Dec. 10, 2020, the report said.
Manns was arrested on charge of battery (on prior conviction) and violate parole (battery upon person 65 years or older). The Indiana native was booked at Lake County Jail without bond.
He was also arrested in Sept. 2022 for trespassing at a historic home by sleeping in its gazebo