A 62-year-old man whose confrontation with a 13-year-old boy in a West Boca neighborhood last month was recorded on cellphone video is now facing one felony charge, in addition to three misdemeanor charges previously filed.
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A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy was called to the area of Paradise Bay Avenue and Five Waters Avenue in the Lotus community on April 3 after an alleged battery, a probable cause affidavit said.
The deputy met with resident Mitchell Schuman, who said he saw a boy doing wheelies on an e-bike down a main road and asked the boy to stop and go talk to security with him, the affidavit said. The boy refused and began recording their interaction on his cellphone.
The South Florida Sun Sentinel is not identifying the teen because he is a minor.
Schuman rode his bicycle, following the boy while blowing a whistle and asking the boy again to stop. While following the teen, Schuman fell off his bicycle, and the boy laughed at him, according to the affidavit. He told the deputy that he then threw a water bottle while standing about 10 feet away, which hit the boy’s phone and knocked it from his hand.
Schuman said he picked up the boy’s phone and told him to go to talk to security guards with him. The boy then “began to batter him by kicking and punching him,” according to Schuman, the affidavit said. Schuman told the deputy “he never touched the child when he was being battered.”
The deputy then spoke with the boy, who said the water bottle Schuman threw hit him on the side of his stomach and knocked his phone down. He told the deputy Schuman pushed him off his bike, and he “felt threatened and tried to defend himself to retrieve his phone,” the affidavit said.
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A report included in the affidavit noted that deputies initially gave Schuman a victim’s rights case information sheet, but “at the conclusion of the investigation, it was determined that Schuman was not a victim and is correctly listed as the arrestee.”
Schuman was given a notice to appear. Last month, the State Attorney’s Office charged Schuman by information with two misdemeanor battery charges, misdemeanor petit theft and misdemeanor criminal mischief.
The case was transferred to felony court last week. Schuman now faces a felony count of robbery by sudden snatching in addition to three misdemeanors — one count of battery, one count of petit theft and one count of criminal mischief, court records show.
A State Attorney’s Office spokesperson declined to provide a statement in response to an email Wednesday seeking comment about the change of the charge.
Schuman pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday.
Defense attorney Matthew Shafran in a statement shared with the Sun Sentinel maintained that Schuman “was not the aggressor in this incident and was offered the opportunity by police to press charges himself, which he declined,” and said that the boy’s behavior had been the subject of several complaints from residents before the incident with Schuman.
“Mr. Schuman has consistently maintained his innocence,” the attorney said. “We are deeply troubled by the State Attorney’s Office’s decision to dramatically escalate these charges on the eve of court, after initially treating this matter as a misdemeanor.”
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