SEBASTIAN — A 26-year-old man is accused of threatening a family and pulling a gun on them at the Sebastian Inlet State Park, according to law enforcement officials.
Dustin Baird was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is being held at the Indian River County Jail on $1,000 bond.
Dustin Baird
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers went to the scene about 10:30 p.m. Monday at the park and spoke with the complainant. The park is 10 miles south of Melbourne Beach and six miles north of Vero Beach.
The complainant said he was cast netting at a dock when a man, later identified as Baird, came up to him and said, “Everybody and their mother or brother are throwing cast nets.”
The complainant moved away to end the confrontation, officers said. Later, the complainant’s nephew came out of the bathroom and told him “the same man was in the bathroom.”
The complainant went to the bathroom and heard Baird yelling racial slurs, officers said. When the complainant walked into the bathroom, Baird yelled to his girlfriend to “bring his bat” and then said “that’s why I carry my .38.”
Baird was aggressively trying to get the complainant to fight him, officers said. Baird’s girlfriend then came into the male bathroom, slid by the complainant, reached into her back pocket and “made a motion to hand an object to Baird.”
The complainant told officers he saw something that he believed to be a gun and was in fear for the safety of himself and his family, including his girlfriend, nephew and two children. The complainant’s girlfriend then came in the bathroom and pulled him out.
The complainant said Baird, Baird’s girlfriend and a second man left in a red van. As the van sped by them, the complainant’s girlfriend said she heard voices coming from inside the van saying more racial slurs.
Officers stopped the van and got the occupants out, but were unable to find a weapon. Baird was apprehended and taken to the county jail.