Man jailed for toilet seat lid attack on his disabled uncle

A 20-year-old Florida man has been jailed on a felony battery charge for allegedly hitting his disabled uncle on the head with a toilet seat lid.

Norris Troutman told a deputy that his 48-year-old uncle was "mocking" him so he hit him on the head with the toilet seat lid. Sammy Lee Johnson, the 48-year-old victim, told St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office deputies that he was sitting on the couch in his Fort Pierce home watching TV with his mother when Troutman ran up to him and “struck him in the back of his head with a toilet seat lid.”

Johnson said that he “was unsure why Mr. Troutman was upset with him,” adding that he “did nothing to provoke the attack.” The man’s mother concurred that he had done nothing to prompt the assault earlier this month. A sheriff’s deputy reported noticing “slight swelling” on Johnson, who refused medical attention. He told investigators that Troutman “retrieved the toilet seat lid from the window sill of the bathroom.”

In an interview with a sheriff’s deputy, the 6’ 6” Troutman “spontaneously admitted” to striking his uncle with the toilet seat. He claimed that the older man had been “mocking” him. Troutman was arrested for aggravated battery “due to the fact he used a deadly weapon/blunt object to strike Johnson in the back of the head” during the January 9 incident. Troutman is being held in the county jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.