Authorities say man hit volunteer with car in Pasco elementary school dropoff line

NEW PORT RICHEY — A parent who said he felt threatened by a 79-year-old elementary school volunteer hit the man with a car in the school's dropoff line Tuesday, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Lawrence Dean Franklin, 34, was in the dropoff loop at Calusa Elementary School about 9:30 a.m. when volunteer William Denamen tried to direct him into another lane. Denamen was standing in front of Franklin's 2006 Cadillac CTS, deputies said.

Franklin did not comply with Denamen's directions and instead took his foot off the brake and let the 3,500-pound car roll into Denamen "to show the victim he was serious," the Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Denamen suffered a cut to his leg and had a noticeable limp, deputies said. After the incident, Franklin said he "felt threatened" by Denamen when the volunteer told him to move into another lane.

Franklin was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a vehicle on a person over 65 years old. He was being held in the Land O'Lakes Detention Center in lieu of $50,000 bail.