Violent Altercation at the Gas Pump

December
8, 2018

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office responded to a gas station at 5500 Star Avenue this morning at 6:35 am  in reference to a physical altercation between two men at a gas pump. Deputies arrived to find the victim bleeding, drifting in and out of consciousness as he lay on the concrete.

Bay
County EMS was already on scene and administering medical aid to the victim.
The victim was taken to a local hospital where he remains with life threatening
injuries.

Witnesses
to the incident stated to deputies that the victim and an African-American male
pulled up to the same gas pump and began talking about who had access to the
pump. They described the suspect as large and wearing a high-visibility
yellow-green vest or jacket. Witnesses stated that the suspect chest-bumped the
victim at which time the victim stepped back, holding up his hands in a manner
that suggested he wanted no further problems with the suspect. The suspect then
chest-bumped the victim again as witnesses heard the victim apologize. It was
then that the suspect punched the victim in the face. The victim fell backwards
and struck the back of his head on the cement.

The
suspect got into his red Chevrolet extended cab truck and left the scene.

A description of the suspect’s vehicle was disseminated to all local law enforcement. A BCSO criminal investigator spotted the truck in Panama City this afternoon and took the suspect into custody. The suspect was identified as Albert Curley Duhart, age 44, of Frankford Avenue in Panama City. He was charged with Felony Battery and taken to the Bay County Jail for booking.

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Prepared
by R. Corley

Information
by Capt. J. Daffin

Approved
by Capt. J. Daffin