An Ocala construction worker was arrested early Wednesday afternoon after a battle with his girlfriend over car keys and a ride to work turned violent in a mini-mart parking lot.
When Marion County Sheriff’s deputies made contact with the woman at a SE Maricamp Road mini-mart, she said she had been arguing with 32-year-old Shakir Anthony Gainey over money problems. She said Gainey wanted her to take him to work in Gainesville but she didn’t have enough gas money. She said he then “snatched the car keys out of the ignition” so they couldn’t leave the mini-mart parking lot, a sheriff’s office report states.
The woman said Gainey then went to punch her in the right side of her head with a closed fist but she put her hand near her face to block the punch. She added that Gainey hit her two times in her right hand, then threw the keys in the back seat of her vehicle and started walking west on SE Maricamp Road, the report says.
The woman said she screamed for help and then located her cell phone so she could call the sheriff’s office. Deputies noted in the report that her hand was “swollen and discolored,” which was consistent with her story of being hit, the report says.
A short time later, deputies located Gainey at the intersection of SE Maricamp Road and SE 31st Street. He denied having a physical altercation with the woman, as well as all of her of allegations.
Gainey was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with domestic battery (second or subsequent offense) and three probation violations out of Alachua County – sale/manufacture of marijuana, felony battery and possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams. He was held with no bond and is due to appear before a Marion County judge on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.
Gainey, who has been in the Marion County Jail three times since November 2013, has a previous domestic battery conviction from February 2009, the report says.