A Floridian has been arrested after he decided to use his golf cart as a weapon against a neighbor, simply because he wanted to “make a statement.” Local news station WKMG News 6 released the bodycam footage that had been obtained from the local police.
The incident involved Bruce Gittleman, a resident of Winter Springs’ Hacienda Village neighborhood, and his deeply exasperated neighbor. While the incident took place in June 2026, it has been thrust back into the limelight with the release of the bodycam footage.
Investigators told WKMG News 6 that the incident followed years of ongoing disputes, so it didn’t come as a total shock to those involved. The neighbor involved had called 911 and said that Gittleman had been harassing him for over ten years, and then had decided to try to run him over with his golf cart.
Court documents later revealed that Gittleman shouldn’t have been driving the golf cart in the first place. In fact, he has a history of disturbances and has a cancelled driver’s license, something that he had nervously confirmed in the bodycam footage.
What Actually Happened in Hacienda Village?
The chaos began to emerge to officers when they had a phone call from the neighbor. “This guy who’s been harassing me for about 10 years just tried to run me over with his golf cart,” the neighbor said on the phone. Police asked if the golf cart had made contact with him, and he replied: “No, he usually gets close and then veers off just to make a statement.”
The bodycam footage showed Gittleman explaining the situation to the officers as he sat in his golf cart. He downplayed the incident and blamed his neighbor, claiming he had instigated it and forced him to drive at him with his golf cart. “He turned around, he came back out in the street with the mower, and he’s yelling at me as I’m riding by,” Gittleman said. “That’s the extent of it,” he added.
“What I’m hearing is that he called you [a] name and then you drove too close to him. Okay?” replied the officer.
“That’s what happened,” Gittleman said. What also counted against Gittleman was that he did not have a valid driver’s license, something he admitted to officers in the bodycam footage. Because it wasn’t a recreational area or a private driveway, Gittleman needed a license to be able to drive the golf cart, specifically a Class E operator’s license.
The Police Arrested Gittleman for Assault
In the end, the officers decided to arrest Gittleman for assault.
“It’s going to be assault with a deadly weapon; we have a witness, and our victim is also saying that you tried to hit him with a golf cart,” one of the officers said. Documents revealed by WKMG News 6 then revealed that Gittleman has a history of disturbances and is the subject of a protection order for domestic battery.
Gittleman also had a history of being arrested for battery, as well as trespassing, in Hacienda Village. As of late September 2026, records from the Seminole County Clerk of Court say that the case has entered the ‘trial posture’ phase. Gittleman is expected to appear in court imminently for his trial to answer the charges that he effectively weaponized his golf cart and tried to run over his neighbor.