They asked a group to keep a social distance. Then the baseball bats came out, cops say
People take their social distancing personally. Both sides of the line found that out over the weekend.
After a 61-year-old man and his 21-year-old daughter called out a group of college kids drinking and partying on a Keys island, they were beaten on the head with a baseball bat, according to police.
Monroe County sheriff’s deputies responded to the 200 block of Margaret Street at the Key West Historic Seaport at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The daughter said her father was already on his way to Lower Keys Medical Center with a lump on the side of his head.
He was injured after the altercation on Wisteria Island, an undeveloped island just off Key West that draws homeless people and others who like to get away from the city.
The daughter had a large lump on the back of her head, police said. She met with deputies on Margaret Street to fill them in on what happened on the island.
She told police she and her father were on a boat anchored northwest of Wisteria Island when they noticed a group of about 20 college-aged people drinking. The group had three center console boats.
She and her father approached the crowd and confronted them about social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The White House has issued guidelines that people not gather in groups of 10 of more.
They also told the group to keep the noise down, police reported.
The woman said it was unclear how many people struck her and her father in their heads with a bat.
The man and his daughter were treated and released at Lower Keys Medical Center.
No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.
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