A Leesburg man found himself behind bars Thursday night after getting into a nasty scuffle with his lady friend in front of Marion County sheriff’s deputies at the Summerfield Wal-Mart.
Deputies were in the parking lot of the store, located at 17961 S. U.S. Hwy. 27/441, on another call when they heard 39-year-old Jamil Kenyatta Rimes and a woman arguing. Deputies watched Rimes grab the victim in the upper torso “in an extremely aggressive manner,” which caused the woman to be “moved.” She then appeared to pull away from Rimes, the report says.
A deputy went over the area where Rimes and the woman were arguing. Rimes was eventually placed in handcuffs after being “verbally aggressive and loud” with the deputy, the report says.
The victim told deputies that she was arguing with Rimes about striking a raccoon while driving his vehicle. She denied that Rimes had touched her and the deputy told her he had witnessed the incident. But she continued to deny the contact, the report says.
After being read his rights, Rimes confirmed that the argument was about the victim striking a racoon with his vehicle, which caused front-end damage and resulted in it needing to be towed. Rimes denied grabbing the victim in an aggressive manner, saying instead that he “grabbed her gently to bring her into him to let her know everything was okay,” the report says.
A deputy told Rimes that he witnessed the contact and that wasn’t what had taken place. He also told Rimes that the parking lot was under video surveillance, the report says.
A deputy then viewed the footage from the parking lot camera and confirmed that Rimes did batter the victim by grabbing her aggressively and “causing her to be physically moved.” Deputies also conducted a computer check that showed Rimes was convicted of battery in June 2010 in a case from the Leesburg Police Department.
Rimes, who lives at 1023 Baker St. in Leesburg, was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with simple domestic battery (second or subsequent offense). He was being held on $500 bond and is due in court Jan. 12 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charge, jail records show.
