COCOA, Fla. – A Central Florida woman is behind bars after she drove toward children playing in the street, allegedly calling the situation “target practice,” according to the Cocoa Police Department.
In a probable cause affidavit, police said they were called to an apartment building along Rosa L. Drive on Sunday evening in response to the incident.
Upon arrival, they found the woman — identified as 59-year-old Pamela Dresser — in a “highly agitated state,” and someone else yelled that she’d tried to swerve toward the children, referring to it as “target practice.”
“While speaking with Dresser, she denied having swerved in her vehicle towards the children,” the affidavit reads. “Dresser stated she had ‘made a wide turn’ in an effort to avoid a yellow cart on the side of the road.”
However, Dresser also explained that she’d kept going and done some “donuts” in a nearby gravel lot, police said.
But when she came back to the parking lot, she was confronted by someone demanding to know why Dresser had tried to strike a person with her car, investigators wrote.
“Dresser admitted to making the ‘target practice’ comment, but quickly tried to minimize that comment to me by saying ‘it was a joke,’” the affidavit continues.
That said, as police walked away from her to speak with another resident, she made comments indicating that a “special present” would soon be delivered from her, police claimed.
“She further stated, ‘That is a threat,’ in an apparent attempt to influence our actions,” an officer recalled. “Myself and Officer Rosas placed Dresser under arrest.”
While Dresser was taken to jail, an officer learned from someone nearby that Dresser had swerved toward four children, causing all of them to run away, police said. The person then claimed that Dresser stuck up her middle finger before yelling a racial slur.
“According to [REDACTED] when herself and [REDACTED] attempted to confront Dresser regarding her actions, Dresser yelled, ‘Yes, I did try to run your (expletive) children over,’” the affidavit states.
Now, Dresser faces two counts of making a threat against a public servant, four counts of child abuse without great bodily harm, and four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. At the time of writing, she remains held on a bond of $250,000.
Her next hearing is slated for July 2 at 8 a.m. for arraignment.