Boca Raton Man Charged With Felony Battery on Senior After Publix Fight

Scott M. Gasser (Photo: Palm Beach County Jail)

A Boca Raton man is facing a charge of felony battery on a person over age 65 stemming from an altercation at a Publix supermarket.

Scott M. Gasser, 45, of Boca Raton, was charged after police were called to the Publix store in the Fifth Avenue Shops plaza off Federal Highway on July 27. According to a police report, officers arrived as the victim, a 71-year-old Miami man, was already being transported by EMTs to a local hospital.

The report states that a store manager told responding officers he heard two men arguing outside the supermarket and ultimately saw a white male, later identified as Gasser, “run at and strike” the victim who fell to the ground. After the man had fallen, Gasser allegedly kicked him, the manager told police. A store surveillance camera recorded the encounter, the report said.

Police later interviewed the victim at the emergency room, who told officers that an argument broke out between him and another man, leading the man to punch him, “causing a bloody nose and a small abrasion on his left cheek.”

Surveillance footage, police said in a probable cause statement filed with the court, showed that Gasser “aggressively ran” toward the victim and struck him in the face with a closed fist. The victim fell, at which point the recording shows Gasser allegedly delivering a kick to the man’s gut area.

Police combed the area searching for a suspect who matched the description of the man in the surveillance video, ultimately locating Gasser near Lake Wyman Park. Police say he admitted to hitting and kicking the victim “after a verbal argument.”

The victim suffered from a mildly-displaced fracture of the lateral wall of the left maxillary sinus, but was expected to make a full recovery, the report said. Gasser remained in custody at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.