NEW PORT RICHEY — Internet challenges and good endings don't often coincide. In Pasco County, it's even rarer.
What started as a plea for Facebook comments ended with a Gulf High School senior being charged with domestic battery. Here's how a "Facebook Egg Challenge" turned physical between a mother and her son Wednesday night, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office:
Michael Corley, 18, was already upset with his mother, Carrie Lann, for taking his Playstation away for bad grades, she told deputies. Despite saying he wasn't upset with his mother over this, Corley wrote on Facebook later that night that he'd "egg" his mother and record it if his post received more than 300 comments.
He told deputies that he then stepped away from his phone "for a while" before checking it again.
Once the comments came, Corley followed through on his promise. After cracking an egg slightly on a kitchen counter, he then walked over to Lann and opened the egg on top of her head, he told deputies.
The arrest affidavit says Lann then responded by slapping her son "across the back of his head with an open hand." Corley would then retaliate by grabbing Lann's shirt and throwing her into the dining room table.
That caused a laceration on Lann's back, deputies said. She later told deputies her boyfriend had to intervene to prevent further violence, which her son denies.
Corley, who stands 6-foot-2, also told deputies he didn't slam his 44-year-old mother into the table, according to the affidavit. Instead, he says he was cleaning up the egg off the kitchen floor when Lann slapped him. The hit startled him, he said, causing him to quickly jump up and accidentally knock her onto the table and causing the laceration.
Deputies arrested Corley without incident around 11:30 p.m. on a count of misdemeanor battery and transported him to the Land O' Lakes Jail.
Contact Josh Fiallo at jfiallo@tampabay.com. Follow @ByJoshFiallo.