Florida Man Threatened to 'Chop' House Guest With Machete After Not Flushing Toilet, Police Say

A Florida man was arrested last weekend after allegedly using a machete to threaten a person during a dispute about an unflushed toilet, police say.

Keith Mounts, 46, of Hudson, was detained on August 24 at approximately 8 p.m. by officers from the Pasco Sheriff's Office. According to the victim, the suspect pointed the large knife in his face and warned that he would "chop" him over the bad bathroom etiquette.

An arrest report detailing the incident, published by The Smoking Gun, said the weapon was located in the yard of the suspect's Becky Lane home, where the confrontation occurred. The victim, who was not named, said he had been afraid Mounts "would cause harm to him."

In the police officer's account of the incident it was not clear which man failed to flush the toilet after using it. Multiple local media outlets based in Florida reported that it was the unidentified victim.

A Pasco Sheriff's Office spokesperson told Newsweek via email: "The suspect didn't flush and when the victim called him on it, the suspect threatened him with a machete."

According to the arrest report, Mounts told deputies he had used the machete to defend himself but, when questioned informally, could not provide a reason why he needed to protect himself. Mounts provided the officers with a very short written statement which stated: "S**t happened." A housemate told deputies he had witnessed the suspect carrying the weapon in the yard.

"The defendant intentionally and unlawfully threatened to do violence to the victim," the report noted. "The defendant had an apparent ability to do so, and did point a machete at the victim's face, which created a well-founded fear in the victim that such violence was imminent."

The nature of the suspect's relationship with the victim remains unclear. Mounts was taken into custody without further incident and transported to Land O Lakes Detention Center, charged with felony aggravated assault. He was held on $5,000 bond, inmate records confirmed.

The jail filing said Mounts was born in Ventura, California.

In Florida, aggravated assault has penalties of up to five years in prison, five years of probation and a $5,000 fine, according to the website of Orlando law firm Richard Hornsby. The charge is currently defined in state law as "an intentional and unlawful threat against another person with a deadly weapon."

Knife threats do not always end without violence. In July, Florida woman Nicole Marion Pelletier was arrested and charged after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend in the chest with a steak knife. Sheriff's deputies in Broward County said the 18-year-old suspect responded violently after her 23-year-old partner taunted her during an argument, telling her: "You don't have the balls to do it."

This article has been updated to clarify that the victim was attacked after the suspect failed to flush the toilet, per a statement from the Pasco Sheriff's Office.