LAKE WALES, Fla. — The Lake Wales Police Department (LWPD) said the owner of a dry cleaning business was arrested after threatening a customer and striking a police officer.
Police said a customer called to report 68-year-old James Franklin Brow, the owner of Long’s Dry Cleaners on West Central Avenue in Lakeland, for allegedly threatening to kill him over a service dispute.
LWPD said an officer met with the customer and developed probable cause to charge Brow for assaulting the customer. When the officer went to speak with Brow, he refused to let her inside his business.
According to police, Brow eventually stepped outside, and when the officer told Brow he was under arrest and attempted to take him into custody, Brow pulled away and began hitting the officer on her head and face several times with his fists.
The officer was able to stop the assault and tried to use her taser to temporarily incapacitate Brow, but it was unsuccessful and Brow retreated to the back of his business and threatened to kill the officer, according to the report.
The officer called for backup, and Brow was eventually apprehended and taken into custody, per LWPD.
Brow was charged with assault, resisting arrest with and without violence, battery on a law enforcement officer, and other related charges.
The release also said police had been to the dry cleaning business multiple times over the past few years for disturbances involving customers.
This is an ongoing investigation.
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