Mary Esther Man Facing Aggravated Battery Charges Against Two Individuals

Matt Boster

Viewed: 1945

Posted by: Matt Boster
Date: Feb 03 2016 3:07 PM

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is dually accredited by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation and Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. “The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office provides equal access and equal opportunity in employment and services and does not discriminate.” Feb. 3, 2016 MARY ESTHER MAN CHARGED WITH HATE CRIME IN AGGRAVATED BATTERY CASE A Mary Esther resident who poured kerosene in front of a man’s home and yelled racial slurs is charged with a hate crime in connection with an aggravated battery committed January 30th.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged 64-year old Ernest Emory Davis of 402 East Pine Street with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon (hate crime related), aggravated battery causing great bodily harm (domestic violence related), and resisting an officer without violence. Deputies were called to Davis’s Pine Street address shortly after midnight the morning of January 30th.

The first victim in the case, William Hawthorne, says David came over to where he lives on the same property and poured kerosene in front of it, yelling racial slurs because he believed Hawthorne had stolen metal roofing tin from him. Hawthorne says Davis then got into his Ford F- 150 and rammed Hawthorne’s residence twice. Hawthorne was hit by debris and knocked back into the bathroom by the force.

Deputies say Davis then entered the adjacent home of another resident living on the property, and pushed the 81-year old man off the porch, causing the senior citizen to fall down stairs and break his hip in two places. When deputies made contact with Davis, he was holding a small knife in his right hand and telling them to shoot him. They subdued him with a Taser and took him into custody.

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