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Friday, March 29, 2024

Bloodied woman flees Summerfield home after battle over TV remote turns violent

James Steven Best

A bloodied 67-year-old Summerfield woman called Marion County deputies for help Wednesday after taking refuge at a cousin’s house following a violent battle over a television remote.

When deputies arrived, they found the woman sitting in a chair holding her head, crying.

The woman had a two-inch laceration on the left side of her temple area, which was “actively bleeding,” as well as scrapes on her knees, a sheriff’s office report says.

The woman told deputies the violent altercation with 58-year-old James Steven Best broke out at their home, located on SE 100 Court Road, after she used a remote control to shut off the TV so she could hear what he was saying to her. She said she put the remote back on the table but it fell onto the floor.

After Best “demanded” the woman find the remote, she said she picked it up and put it behind her back. That’s when Best got upset, got off the couch, stepped over the coffee table and attempted to grab the remote, the report says.

The woman said Best, who is unemployed, grabbed her arms and took the remote, then struck her in the head and temple area of her face, the report says, adding that she wasn’t sure if she was hit with the remote.

The woman said she got up and left the house but then tripped over a carpet outside and fell, which resulted in her scraped knees. As she was leaving, she said Best said, “If you call the cops you will be dead before they get here.”

A short time later, deputies made contact with Best at his brother’s house in the 9900 block of SE 168th Place in Summerfield. He denied hitting the woman and said she was upset and threw the remote against the wall after turning the off the TV. Best said he turned it back on by hand, but the woman turned it back off, left the residence and cut her leg after tripping over the carpet. Best claimed the woman then got up and said, “Look what you did now, you are going to jail.”

Best also told deputies that the woman had hits her face on an outside cabinet two days earlier but said he didn’t know if the laceration was there the last time he saw her. Best also reiterated that “he did not strike the victim and never has,” the report says.

Best was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail. He was charged with battery on a person 65 years of age or older and held without bond.