PEPPER SPRAYED
Bill Nelson's son arrested
Henry Pierson Curtis and April Hunt | Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted November 8, 2006, 6:11 PM EST
One moment, Charles William Nelson stood on his own two feet. An instant later, he hugged the sidewalk with a nose full of pepper spray.
The 30-year-old son of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson was arrested and charged with disorderly intoxication early Wednesday after shoving an Orlando Police officer.
The encounter followed reports of a large street fight at 2:45 a.m. outside the Embassy Suites Hotel on Pine Street, where the Nelson family and Democratic party workers had celebrated the senator's re-election hours earlier.
The senator, who won in a 60-to-38 walk over Republican challenger Katherine Harris, canceled his tradition of waving a "thank you" sign to passing motorists at Colonial and Bumby avenues Wednesday morning.
"Any parent would be sad for their son over an incident such as this, as are Grace and I," Nelson said in a written statement released Wednesday afternoon through his Washington, D.C. office. "We love our son and support him and while we don't know all the facts, this is a legal matter and he is taking personal responsibility."
The arrest was the second time Charles William Nelson ? known as Bill Jr. - had been charged in Florida with disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office arrested the senator's son on Feb. 7, 2005 on those charges as well as trespass. The case was dropped by prosecutors and the details could not be learned Wednesday.
Bill Jr., who, according to the Orlando police report, works for 21st Century Oncology in Washington, D.C., did not return a request for comment left on his cell phone. A spokeswoman at the company would not say whether Bill Nelson Jr. worked there or what his job was at multi-state health care company.
Orlando police first encountered him the Embassy Suites Hotel where hours earlier he took the stage to introduce his dad to the jubilant crowd of donors and Democratic party workers.
Reports of a large street fight between at least 20 people at 2:45 a.m. summoned police to the hotel at the corner of Pine Street and Magnolia Avenue.
The younger Nelson drew attention because an unconscious woman lay slumped over on the sidewalk and leaning against Nelson's legs, the arrest report states.
"When I asked the Defendant and the other male if (the woman) was O.K., the Defendant said, "She is fine, I'll take her to the hotel," Officer William C. Becton wrote. "I detected a strong odor of the impurities of alcohol emitting from the Defendant's breath. The Defendant's speech was slurred and he had poor balance. The Defendant appeared to be intoxicated."
When the officer radioed headquarters for an ambulance, the senator's son tried to drag the woman's body into the hotel, the report states. Told by the officer to put her down, Nelson dropped her on the sidewalk and her head came within two inches of striking the metal base of a traffic control signal, the report states.
"No. You need to leave!" Bill Jr. said, using both arms to shove the officer, the report states. It's not clear whether the woman was transported to the hospital.
In the moments that followed, the police officer grabbed one of Bill Jr.'s arms and forced him onto the sidewalk in what's commonly called a "face plant." However, the 200-pound, 5-feet, 9-inch suspect rolled on his back and continued fighting while others in the crowd began shouting, the report states.
"I called for emergency assistance," Becton wrote. "I then deployed a 2-3 second burst of pepper spray to his face. The Defendant rolled over onto his stomach and I handcuffed him."
Transported by patrol car to the jail's Central Booking Office on 33rd Street, Bill Jr. was released after someone posted bail of $1,000 on the felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer, and $100 each on misdemeanor charges of disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest without violence, records show.
Bill Jr. and his 29-year-old sister, Nan Ellen, a classically trained singer, were a feature of stories Nelson told voters during the campaign.
He appeared most often on his dad's behalf at festivals in the Panhandle. There in the conservative, rural reaches of piney woods, the 6th-generation Floridian feels most comfortable, according to the senator.
"If there's a dove hunt or a BBQ, you can expect Billy," Nelson joked with a crowd in the Panhandle city of Madison last week.
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