Frostproof Senior Linebacker Gaines Out For Three Games

Tue. August 21, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. | By Solange Reyner

Frostproof senior linebacker Toddrick Gaines will have to miss at least the first three games of the football season after he was arrested and charged with battery on an elderly person for an incident that happened in mid-May.

Gaines was booked into jail by the Polk County Sheriff's Office on Aug. 13. He goes to court Sept. 8 to plead his case, said Price Harris, his high school coach. Battery on an elderly person in Florida is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in state prison.

The Sheriff's Office ­initially charged Gaines with a ­misdemeanor, but the State Attorney's Office elevated it to a third-degree felony, said Harris, who would not ­comment further on the matter.

Any student in Florida charged with a felony cannot participate in extracurricular activities, including practices, Don Bridges, the Polk County athletic director, said.

Gaines' arrest stems from an incident that took place on May 17 in Frostproof. According to deputies, Gaines was involved in a fight with some people outside of Mary Dawkins' home at 46 Queens Court. During the course of the fight, Gaines pushed Dawkins from behind into a flower bed, deputies said. Dawkins, who is 65 years or older, did not require medical assistance.