3 arrested after man injured

HILAND PARK — Two men, a juvenile and a dog were taken into custody after a man was attacked on a dead-end road, fracturing his eye socket and jaw last week, according to Bay County Sheriff’s Office records.

Dustin Howell, 35, was not able to remember anything after two adults punched him at the same time causing him to go limp and fall to the ground, then continued to attack him. He was still bleeding from his face and head when officers arrived to the dead end on Vera Lane just after 7 p.m. Wednesday. BCSO initially was responding to a reckless driver call before arresting three people for felony battery.

The three kept beating Howell once he was on the ground, Kristy Howell, 26, told deputies afterward.

It started when a white Ford truck sped down Ormond Avenue as the Howells were pulling out of a driveway. Dustin Howell pulled into the road in an attempt to slow the truck, driven by Thomas Lee Hutchinson, 17. The Howells and the owners of the truck have a long history of problems, Kristy Howell told officers.

Once they reached their Long Street home, Kristy Howell went inside to call police. When she came back out, Dustin Howell and Hutchinson were yelling and cursing at one another at the dead end, she told officers.

William Charles Hutchinson, 45, and Jimmy Ray Hutchinson, 65, of Ormond Avenue, then hopped out of a nearby truck and struck Dustin Howell, causing him to fall.

When Kristy Howell tried to separate the men, she said, two women — Carmen Hutchinson, 45, and Lindy Peoples, 34 — appeared, grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. Kristy Howell told officers the Hutchinsons’ dog escaped from the family’s yard and chased her before biting her hip, puncturing the skin.

Deputies saw video surveillance from the Howells house of the truck fishtailing down the dirt road. Neighbors also saw the two men on top of Dustin Howell continually hitting him.

Dustin Howell was taken to a local hospital with a fractured eye socket and jaw fracture that will require surgery, BCSO noted.

The three Hutchinson males were arrested on felony battery charges. No charges were brought against the women of Ormond Avenue, but the case has been forwarded to the state attorney’s office to determine whether more charges will be filed.

The dog was taken by Animal Control and quarantined.