DESTIN - Lawmen say a man took a baseball bat from another man and shouted, "Who's got the bat now?" as he took up a swinging stance.
On Dec. 8, Okaloosa County Sheriff's deputies went to a Choctaw Drive residence after receiving a report of two men involved in a dispute. When they arrived they found 23-year-old Joshua Kevin Hawkins of Destin and the other man standing in the driveway. They separated the two.
After questioning Hawkins, the man, the man's daughter, and a friend of the daughter, deputies learned the following:
Hawkins said he came to residence with permission of the friend, but the woman said she told Hawkins not to come over and when he arrived, he yelled and cursed at her.
The father told deputies he was awakened by loud banging as Hawkins went to multiple doors at the house. He went outside with a baseball bat to see what was going on and found Hawkins sitting on his back deck. Hawkins allegedly said he wasn't doing anything wrong but he refused to leave. When the man tried to force him to leave, the two began wrestling and Hawkins at one point gained possession of the bat. "Who's got the bat now?" he was quoted as saying, as he took up a stance to swing at the man. By this time the two women had come outside and talked Hawkins into putting the bat down.
Hawkins said after the friend threatened to call deputies, he knocked on doors to identify himself to the parents of the other woman. He was then approached by the father, who was armed with a baseball bat, and thrown to the ground. He admitted it was probably inappropriate for him to be there and offered to apologize and leave. He had text messages on his phone from the friend saying she would not meet him anywhere and to "not do anything crazy."
The friend said she told Hawkins not to come over, but he arrived and cursed her. She went back inside and told her friend's father she was scared, so he went outside to confront Hawkins. The two women went with him. She said she saw the man try to calm Hawkins, but Hawkins grabbed the bat from him and began yelling threats. At that point they called 911.
Hawkins was charged with assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill and trespassing. His court date is Jan. 29.