Cops: Family Brawled Over Chinese Takeout

SEPTEMBER 20--It may have been a beef with broccoli.

A domestic dispute over takeout Chinese food ended with criminal charges being filed against a Florida Man and his daughter, both of whom are accused of battering a third family member.

Investigators say that a melee broke out Friday evening at a residence in Wildwood, a Central Florida city adjacent to The Villages retirement community. The home is occupied by Bruce Schell, 51, his wife, daughter Atlantis, and his son, who cops identified at the battery victim.

As detailed in a Wildwood Police Department arrest report, the Schell family had “ordered Chinese food but the takeout containers were not labeled,” which upset Schell since he did not know “which container of food was his.”

Schell’s son, police reported, said that he argued with his father and sister over the Chinese food “due to the fact that the victim had eaten [his father’s] food unknowingly.” The dispute turned violent, the victim said, when his sister began punching him in the face. Schell then allegedly joined the fracas, putting his son in a chokehold.

Schell’s wife told cops she was in her bedroom when she heard “crashing and yelling in the kitchen area.” When she entered the kitchen, the woman recalled, she saw Atlantis, 25, pummeling the victim, who was being choked by Schell. The battering, the woman added, ended only after she called 911 for help.

The victim had “visible red marks on the front side of his neck” and “fresh bruising/redness on his left eye,” noted police, who added that neither defendant “appeared to have any marks or bruises from this incident.”

Both Schell and Atlantis, seen above, were arrested for misdemeanor battery. Schell was also charged with domestic battery by strangulation, a felony. Each defendant bonded out of the Sumter County jail early Sunday morning. (2 pages)