St. Lucie West man faces charges for pulling gun in pool dispute
 

Article Courtesy of TCPALM.com

By WILL GREENLEE

Published: June 14, 2006

 

PORT ST. LUCIE — A condo board member in St. Lucie West has been arrested for trying to enforce pool rules — at the point of a gun.

Jay Hanson, 35, a board member at Belmont at St. Lucie West, faces felony charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and falsely personating a law enforcement officer.

Hanson allegedly pulled a gun on two men who brought a six pack of bottled beer to the condo pool — where glass isn't allowed.

"He's starting to freak out and he's backing up with his finger on the trigger," Kalani Dodson recalled Tuesday.

Hanson, arrested Monday, was released on $22,500 bail. He declined to comment.

The June 7 incident began when Dodson, a 26-year-old tilesetter from Fort Pierce, went to visit Mike Duncan, his friend of 15 years, and Duncan's girlfriend.

At the pool, a representative of the complex, near Peacock and St. Lucie West boulevards, reminded them that glass isn't allowed at the pool. Dodson said 

Jay Hanson

the bottles were thrown away about five minutes later as he and Duncan went to the bathroom.

When they returned, Duncan's girlfriend said another person at the pool, later identified as Hanson, had been "completely rude" to her, Dodson said.

  

"He just blatantly said to her, 'I guess you didn't graduate high school, you don't know how to read. ... It says, no bottles,' " Dodson recalled.

   

Dodson said he and Duncan approached Hanson, who got "huffy and puffy."

According to police reports, Hanson "was angry about the victims having glass bottles on the pool deck."

   

Hanson then "identified himself as an 'off-duty police officer' to the victims and pulled out a silver/chrome snub nosed revolver from his right pocket," reports state.

He pointed the gun toward the victims, according to police who viewed surveillance video of the incident.

    

Hanson initially denied drawing a gun, but the video shows him brandishing a handgun before the victims put their hands in the air and backed away.

 

Hanson told an officer he worked for the Martin County Sheriff's Office, then recanted before saying he was the SWAT team's "unofficial armorer." Hanson is not a law enforcement officer and does not have a concealed weapons permit, reports state.

 

Greg Noragon, communication manager for Belmont at St. Lucie West, identified Hanson as a member of one of three condo association boards. He said Hanson has been asked to resign.

NEWS PAGE

HOME HOA ARTICLES