A 22-year-old Coconut Creek man faces two felony counts of burglary with assault or battery after an October 6 incident at an apartment that left another man with lacerations, according to Coconut Creek Police Department arrest records.
Steven Thomas Gale went to the apartment shortly before midnight after learning his former girlfriend was spending the night with another man, according to an arrest affidavit. Before arriving, he had called the woman’s brother and asked him to leave the front door open. The brother unlocked it and went to take a shower.
Police said Gale retrieved a metal lug wrench about 24 inches long from his car, walked in and opened the bedroom door, where the woman and her boyfriend were lying in bed. Investigators said he raised the wrench over his head and ordered the boyfriend to fight him.
The boyfriend got out of bed and told Gale repeatedly to leave. Gale retreated to the living room, raised the wrench again and challenged the man to fight. The confrontation later moved into the building’s breezeway, where the affidavit says Gale swung his arms and struck the boyfriend in the chest, right arm and shoulder. The boyfriend pushed and punched Gale until the fight ended.
The woman told investigators she and Gale ended their relationship two months earlier and that he had no belongings left at the apartment. Police said Gale admitted he had “messed up” by going there and that he should have controlled his emotions. He was taken to the Broward County Main Jail.
