An Arrest for Child Neglect and Battery; Shots on Old Dixie; $250,000 Yacht Burns on Cimarron Drive

Kendra P. Hampton, a 39-year-old resident of Winchester Place in Palm Coast, was in jail Monday following her arrest Saturday on three counts of child neglect and battery after a witness told police her 1-year-old child, unattended, had nearly choked on cigarette butt.

Hampton’s boyfriend, who has a child in common with Hampton, had called police and reported that she’d started drinking Saturday early in the afternoon. He said he needed to leave the house briefly and left her three children with her, according to an incident report. (The children are age 9, 2 and 1).

There were two other adults in the house at the time, but they were on the opposite side of the house. One of them heard the 1 year old choking. Running to the child, she discovered that Hampton had left the house and the children. The baby, according to the report, “had managed to get into a full ashtray of smoked cigarettes and had ingested one of them.” Hampton, one of the residents at the house said, had walked to Scruffy’s bar because she needed a break.

“She appeared extremely intoxicated with slurred speech, blood shot watery eyes and very erratic behavior,” the report states. When her boyfriend, after his return, confronted Hampton about leaving the children unattended, she allegedly became aggressive toward him and struck him in the nose with a cell phone.  Her boyfriend initially sought to have Hampton Baker Acted–that is, committed to a psychiatric ward in Daytona Beach, as she had told him that she wanted to end her life. The Baker Act may be invoked against an individual’s will to keep her from harming herself or others. But Hampton made no such statements in front of police, and said to a deputy that she’d never made such statements.

The deputy’s investigation found that Hampton had not told anyone that she was leaving the house. “She did fail or omit to provide the children with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the children’s physical and mental health,” the deputy reported. While adjusting her handcuffs, “she became combative and caused me to bruise my right ring finger. I was able to get the handcuffs on her safely and placed her in her car as she resisted.” A charge of resisting arrest was added.

Hampton is being held on $5,500 bond.

The sound of breaking glass woke her up: when Samantha Anderson, 27, looked outside her window, she saw a yacht in the canal engulfed in flames. It was just past 2 this morning (March 30). Anderson, a resident of 86 Cimmaron Drive inPalm Coast, woke up her father, who then woke up the vessel owners in the same house, Carol and Norman MacDonald, 74 and 81, respectively, before police arrived and evacuated the house and one near it because of the boat’s proximity.

The 48-foot yacht was fully engulfed in flames when police arrived, and tied to the wooden dock. It contained 150 gallons of diesel fuel in the two fuel tanks of the engine bay, with a small propane container for cooking inside the vessel.

The fire was contained to the vessel by the Palm Coast Fire Department, a Flagler County Sheriff’s report notes. The dock and residences were not affected or damaged. Once the fire was out residents were cleared to return to their homes.

The vessel, a 1988 Moore Motors fiberglass hull yacht, had twin Volvo inboard diesel engines, was named “Carol Mac” and valued by the owner at $250,000 dollars. The State Fire Marshall was contacted and responded to the scene. The investigation is ongoing.

Saturday afternoon (March 29), Larry Brazeal, a 67-year-old resident at the Holiday Travel Park at 2261 Old Dixie Highway, reported to deputies that an unknown person shot a “bullet” into his lawn trailer. Brazeal said his trailer was undamaged in the morning. He left around noon. The bullet hole was visible when he returned in mid-afternoon.

Brazeal said he believes there is a gun range in the wood line behind his residence. The deputy located the bullet hole on the left side of the trailer. “The hole was approximately one inch wide and appeared to have penetrated from a downward position,” the incident report states. The .40 to .45-caliber bullet appeared to have entered the wall and fell to the bottom of the trailer. Brazeal retrieved the bullet and handed it to the deputy.

A neighbor told the deputy he heard multiple gun shots at approximately 10 that morning. The neighbor said he heard the shots coming from the wood line and pointed in the direction behind Brazeal’s home. “It is unknown at this time who and how the bullet was shot into the trailer but that the measurements indicate it was traveling downwards and from the wood line,” the incident report states.

Just last week, Florida lawmakers rejected a proposal to restrict backyard gun ranges, thereby preventing local governments–counties or cities–from regulating them.