Authorities say they've arrested three young men after they beat up a disabled Navy veteran who told them to stop torturing a turtle at a central Florida apartment complex. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that 45-year-old Garry Blough was attacked Tuesday afternoon. He says his wife had told him three people were outside smashing a fresh water turtle to the ground and kicking it.
Blough says he went outside and told them to stop and then told his wife to call the police.
Blough, who sustained several injuries in the war in 1991 and uses a walker, was badly beaten by suspects Johnnie Beveritt, 18, Alfred Jose Chico, 16 and Ryan Ponder, 23, police said.
An arrest report says the suspects punched Blough and then kicked him while he was on the ground. Paramedics said Blough suffered shattered skull and facial bones, a concussion and a severely injured eye.
Daytona Beach police arrested the suspects and charged them with aggravated battery and animal cruelty.