A 78-year-old Villager will avoid prosecution after spitting on a fellow resident in a golf cart speeding dispute.
Ronald Joseph McKean of the Village of Valle Verde was allowed to enter into a pre-trial diversion contract this week in Lake County Court. The terms of the contract call on him to meet monthly with a pre-trial intervention officer and pay $20 in restitution to the man he spit on. McKean will need to seek a mental health evaluation if the officer recommends it. In addition, McKean paid $465 in related court costs.
“The first step in rehabilitation is to the admission of his wrong-doing,” the contract states.
McKean was arrested July 2 at his home at 162 Palermo Place in the Village of Valle Verde.
A Villager had been driving his 2017 Yamaha golf cart on Palermo Place that day when McKean, who had been standing on his property, yelled at the man in the golf cart to “slow down.” The man in the golf cart continued to the driving range on Rolling Acres Road, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
He was standing on the driving range platform when McKean drove up in his golf cart and approached him. McKean began using foul language and became “aggressive,” the report said. During his tirade, McKean projected saliva onto the other man. The native New Yorker then inhaled and “intentionally” released fluids from his mouth into the other man’s facial area, the report said.
McKean walked to the other man’s golf cart and took its keys from the ignition. He again used profanity and then shouted at the other man, “Now you don’t have any keys.” He threw the keys into the grass and left the driving range.
An officer went to McKean’s home and found him in the driveway. He admitted to taking the keys from the other man’s golf cart.
