VERO BEACH — A 22-year-old Palm Bay man was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly spat on two officers who answered a call at a restaurant on Vero Beach Regional Airport property, according to a Vero Beach Police Department arrest affidavit.
Chandler Robert Gousie faces two felony counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one misdemeanor count of disorderly intoxication.
An airport officer was sent to CJ Cannon’s, 3414 Cherokee Drive, shortly after 1 p.m. after a report of an intoxicated man being obnoxious and touching people inside the restaurant, the affidavit states.
The officer identified Gousie from his Florida driver’s license. Gousie said he had flown in from New York, knew he should not be driving and had already called for an Uber. A short time later he drove his own vehicle from the airport parking lot to the restaurant, police said.
The airport officer detained Gousie in a patrol car and waited for Vero Beach officers.
A Vero Beach police officer wrote that he found Gousie “very animated,” waving his hands and yelling from the back seat. Because of Gousie’s intoxication and erratic behavior, officers arrested him for disorderly intoxication.
As they moved him into a patrol car and fastened the seat belt, Gousie began spitting at the officers, the affidavit says. The officer wrote that saliva struck his right arm and landed on the cage inside the car. The airport officer reported being hit on his vest.
Gousie was told to stop but kept yelling and flailing, the affidavit states.
He was taken to the Indian River County Jail without further incident. He was booked on two counts of felony battery on a law enforcement officer, held with no bond, and one count of misdemeanor disorderly intoxication with a $150 cash bond.
Police said they also trespassed Gousie from the airport and from CJ Cannon’s. A cell phone and vehicle keys were placed into property.