Holmes Beach police were set to submit a capias request to the state attorney’s office for aggravated battery and trespassing charges against resident Everett “Lonnie” Hodapp, 53.
An officer responded March 8 to a disturbance at the Manatee Public Beach, 4000 Gulf Drive, and found Hodapp with a cut on his right hand and in possession of a machete, according to the police report.
The officer called Manatee County Emergency Medical Services to treat Hodapp’s injury.
After EMS cleared Hodapp, he told police the injury was a result of a conflict that began when he argued with another beachgoer.
Hodapp said the man poked him in the chest with a small knife, resulting in a cut observed by police.
Hodapp said he knocked the knife out of the man’s hand and later took a machete, which the man allegedly tried to use against him.
Because the officer was familiar with the other party involved in the conflict, HBPD contacted a family member.
The man went with his mother to the Holmes Beach Police Department for the interview.
He told police he was sitting with his mother in their truck in the beach parking lot when Hodapp took the machete from the back of the vehicle and thrust it into the window.
He said Hodapp cut himself by purposefully grabbing the blade.
The man said he threw a pole at Hodapp and Hodapp threw the machete at him.
The man denied possessing a small knife, which police failed to find during a search.
Police issued the man a trespass warning.
Hodapp had been issued a trespass warning from the beach March 7, so he left the scene after police reminded him of his active trespass warning.
However, an officer found Hodapp at the beach March 9, and he was arrested on a trespassing charge and transported to the Manatee County jail.
Hodapp was released the next day without bond.
A March 8 police report states, “A capias request will be submitted for trespass after warning, along with aggravated battery as further investigation yielded enough information that possibly Hodapp battered (the man) and the possibility of mutual combatants exists.”
Aggravated battery is a second-degree felony punishable upon conviction by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Trespassing after warning is often charged as a misdemeanor but if an offender is armed or arms themself with a dangerous weapon while on the property they can be charged with a third-degree felony.
If convicted, punishment for a third-degree felony includes up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a fine of up to $5,000.