An 80-year-old Villager has been arrested in a parking dispute at a Publix grocery store.
Henry Kok was arrested Thursday morning by Sumter County sheriff’s deputies at his home on Abaco Path in the Village of Sanibel.
Kok was tracked down after the sheriff’s office posted a photo on social medial showing a suspect in a parking lot dispute which occurred at the Publix at Colony Plaza. The sheriff’s office was seeking assistance in identifying the suspect. Two people contacted the sheriff’s office and identified Kok as the person in the photo.
An investigation began after a man told deputies that he had been parked in his golf cart in a handicapped spot at about 5:15 p.m. June 10 in the Publix parking lot when he was approached by Kok, who stands 5 feet 11 inches tall. Kok, who was walking with a cane, began arguing with the man in the golf cart about his use of a handicapped spot. The man tried to explain that he had a valid handicapped placard. However, Kok became “physically aggressive” and struck him multiple times with a cane. The man suffered a small bruise on his left hand. The man used his cell phone to capture an image of Kok before he walked away and went into the store. Publix also had surveillance of the altercation.
Once the callers had provided Kok’s name to the sheriff’s office, a detective worked with Publix and confirmed that Kok’s credit card had been used at the store shortly after the attack…