LAKE COUINTY, Fla. — Terrified screams filled the air after several Umatilla Middle School students were forced to leap out of the path of a speeding pick-up truck Friday morning.
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Marquel Wentherspoon was one of the students who ran to safety after he told WFTV Tonight about the man investigators say went on a violent rampage.
“He got out of his truck and started pointing around, and when he started pointing. I just had a feeling something was going to be off with this,” said Wentherspoon.
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The Lake County Sheriff’s office said three students were at the bus stop on the corner of Mills and Church Street when 59-year-old Arthur James Young approached them.
Wentherspoon said leading up to the attack, Young asked them questions before jumping back into his car, speeding towards them, attempting to hit them.
“When he got to me, he asked me “Do you believe in God”. I said yes sir, and when I said yes sir, he started buffing up at me,” said Wentherspoon.
Wentherspoon recalled the man driving at each of the students before they ran to a nearby car for help.
“We circled around the truck like three times, he kept trying to hit us. That’s when we hopped in the van and the lady took us down to my friend’s grandmom’s house,” said Wentherspoon.
Investigators said it happened around 8:36 in the morning, but that was one part of the series of events that took place.
Deputies said Young then saw a middle school teen walking to a bus stop on Church Street. He then exited his black Dodge Ram truck and physically grabbed and attacked the girl.
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“She actually hit him with a metal water bottle that she was carrying. But he’s a very large individual, he’s over 300 pounds, so he fell on her and began choking her,” said Lieutenant John Herrell, Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Herrell said Young grabbed the girl and told her she was going with him.
Nearby bystanders helped save the teen. One fired two gunshots as a warning to stop the attack.
Residents in the neighborhood where the incident happened said Young is no stranger to the community. They told WFTV Tonight he has never shown signs of aggression, and what happened was unexpected, random, and terrifying.
Herrell said deputies and Umatilla police had run-ins with Young previously, which consisted of verbal disturbances and minor encounters but nothing that would make them think he would harm children.
Herrell said after the attacks, Young was arrested and taken to the hospital for evaluation, where EMTS’ were concerned about his elevated heart rate. Young admitted to the use of marijuana.
Young is being charged with aggravated assault, child abuse, and kidnapping.
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