A 69-year-old Alabama man was arrested for threatening to kill his grown son with a pocketknife after he was annoyed his family didn’t help load their bags to check out of their Disney World hotel, records show.
Howard Hudgens, of Fruithurst, Ala., was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence following the Sept. 27 incident at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. He pleaded not guilty in October to the felony and misdemeanor charges.
“We do have situations where tourists and family members come to Florida and tensions run high, and sometimes arrests happen,” said Orange-Osceola County Public Defender Melissa Vickers, who is representing Hudgens. “It’s unfortunate, but we do everything we can to get to the right resolution.”
When the Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrived, Hudgens stood outside with a bloody face and a metal bat in his back pocket.
Hudgens reluctantly gave up his bat but he refused to go to the hospital.
Instead, he described his family fight to law enforcement.
“Howard was in his room at #7342 in the Kidani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge, he had just loaded all the luggage from the room into his vehicle. Howard was annoyed they didn’t help load the bags into the car,” the arrest report said.
Hudgen’s patience was tested further because his son wasn’t ready to leave the hotel yet. Hudgens retorted that his son could catch a bus home. That’s when the argument began and the situation soon escalated into a physical fight.
According to Hudgens, his 67-year-old wife got in the middle of the father and son. Howard said he moved his wife out of the way and his son yelled, “Don’t push my mother!” The son then got into his face, so Hudgens admitted he punched him, according to the arrest report. Hudgens said his son punched him back.
The 48-year-old son gave his own version of the events.
The son and his daughter were watching animals from their hotel room’s back porch when “Daddy got the luggage and took them to the car,” the son recounted, according to the arrest report. “Daddy came back up and said ‘Thanks for the help.’ I told him he didn’t have to. Daddy said he was going to leave us here.”
The son reminded his dad that the daughter was the one who paid for the room.
“Daddy started getting smart with us,” the son said and described his mother stepping in to intervene.
The son said his father pushed him and his mother “and I pushed him back and told him not to push her again and he hit me in the jaw, and I hit him three or four times. Then daddy pulled out a knife and (threatened) to kill me.”
The son left the room and hid, he said.
Hugens’ wife backed up her son’s story.
“Howard pushed her out of the way and started to hit (the son), but (the son) hit back defending himself,” the arrest report said. “(The wife) said that’s when Howard pulled out a knife and threatened to kill (the son), but they then separated as (the son) left the room.”
Both father and son appeared a little beat up from the altercation.
Hudgens had a cut on his left cheek, a tear on his left ear and a bruised face. The son’s right knuckles and left knee were bruised. The mother was not hurt.
A sheriff’s deputy decided Hudgens was the aggressor, arrested him and took him to Orange County Jail.
Both Hudgens’ wife and son wanted to prosecute and were willing to testify against him, the arrest report said.
His pocketknife was taken into evidence.