Inset: Melanie E. Davis (Polk County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The home where she allegedly attacked a man with a garden hoe (Google Maps).
A 47-year-old woman in Florida was arrested for allegedly breaking into a man’s home and attacked him with a garden hoe because he canceled plans they made to “hang out.”
Melanie E. Davis was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of felony aggravated battery using a deadly weapon and one count of felony assault or battery during the commission of a burglary, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. According to a probable cause affidavit, deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11, responded to a home in Frostproof, Florida, in reference to a burglary. Authorities said that about an hour earlier, Davis had climbed over and damaged the victim’s fence before entering his home demanding “money for something she’d bought [the victim] a few days ago.”
“[The victim] told Davis to leave multiple times and Davis refused to leave,” the affidavit states. “Davis entered the dwelling to see if [the victim] had anyone else inside. The incident escalated when Davis struck [the victim] with a garden hoe on his left arm.”
Davis eventually left the home and another woman drove the victim to Advent Health Hospital in Sebring, Florida, for treatment of the laceration on his arm. After being released from the hospital, the victim filed an incident report with the sheriff’s office.
In an interview with detectives, the victim said he was friends with Davis. He denied “ever being in a dating relationship” with her, but said they had engaged in “mutual sex in the past.”
According to the victim, when Davis came to his home uninvited, she demanded money for a crossbow she had recently purchased for him. He said she came to the home demanding to be let in and when he refused, she climbed the gate surrounding the property and pushed her way into his house.
The victim said he “kept telling Davis to leave and a physical altercation occurred.”
Regarding previous violent incidents, the victim said that three days earlier he and Davis argued when Davis accused him of “having her keys.” During the altercation, he claimed Davis struck him “in the back of his head with a lock.”
Detectives then spoke with Davis who allegedly admitted to climbing the victim’s fence and having a “physical altercation” with him, during which she struck him with “an unknown object.” The affidavit says she hit him with “the blade of a garden hoe” which resulted in “serious injury to his left arm.”
Davis claimed she and the victim were supposed to “hang out earlier that evening,” but the victim later said he couldn’t make it.” Davis was “not happy” about that, and eventually went to the victim’s house to confront him, according to the sheriff’s office.
In addition to the felony charges, Davis is also facing misdemeanor counts of criminal mischief and battery.
Davis is currently being held in the Polk County Jail without bond. She is scheduled to appear in court for her arraignment on March 18, records show.
