A long-running neighborhood feud in Florida escalated to a felony case after a man called 911 and accused his neighbor of trying to run him over with a golf cart.
Bruce Gittleman was arrested June 10 in Winter Springs after the confrontation in Hacienda Village, according to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office booking report. The report identifies the Winter Springs Police Department as the arresting agency.
Newly released police body-camera footage obtained by News 6 captures Gittleman’s account of the encounter, along with officers confronting him with what the neighbor and a witness had told them.
“This guy who has been harassing me for about 10 years just tried to run me over with his golf cart,” the neighbor told a 911 dispatcher, according to the report and footage aired by the station.
When the dispatcher asked whether the cart had struck him, the caller said it had not. He claimed Gittleman typically got close before veering away “just to make a statement.”
Two Different Stories
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An officer in the body-camera footage told Gittleman that both the neighbor and another witness said he had tried to hit the man with the cart.
“We have a witness and also a victim saying you tried to hit him with a golf cart,” the officer told him. “We have a witness saying the same thing.”
Gittleman denied trying to hurt anyone. He described an argument in which the neighbor came back into the street with a mower and yelled at him as he rode past.
“That’s the extent of it,” Gittleman said.
An officer summarized what he understood Gittleman to be saying: the neighbor had called him a name, and Gittleman then drove too close to him.
Gittleman faces a felony assault charge, News 6 reported. The charge remains an allegation, and he has not been convicted in the case.
Another Problem
The golf cart itself gave officers another issue to address.
During the encounter, an officer asked whether Gittleman had a valid driver’s license.
“Uh, no,” Gittleman replied.
The officer told him that meant he could not operate the cart there. News 6 reported that Gittleman’s license had been canceled.
“No one ever told me that,” Gittleman said.
Florida’s statewide golf-cart law generally allows an operator who is at least 18 to drive on an authorized public road with valid government-issued photo identification rather than requiring a driver’s license. The same statute, however, specifically allows local governments to adopt more restrictive rules.
Winter Springs did exactly that.
The city’s golf-cart regulations state that only licensed drivers may operate golf carts and prohibit driving one on city roads without a valid, current driver’s license.
Headed Toward Trial
News 6 reported that a police report described previous disturbances involving Gittleman in Hacienda Village, including prior arrests for battery and trespassing. An arrest does not establish guilt in those earlier matters.
The current case had moved into trial posture as of Sept. 28, according to the station’s review of Seminole County court records.
Gittleman was expected back in court later in the week for trial scheduling.