A verbal dispute regarding a man’s driving after he had been drinking in a local bar resulted in him being arrested after he stuck a handgun in another man’s mouth and struck him on the head with an object.
Frank Benjamin Tripp, 42, of the 3700 block of Bayou Boulevard, Pensacola was arrested Tuesday afternoon. He was charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a weapon, possession of cocaine, and possession of a controlled substance without prescription.
The incident occurred between 3 and 4 a.m. Monday when the victim – Andrew Sheffield, 27, of the 5500 block of Woodcrest Drive, Pensacola - some other people and Tripp were at O’Riley’s Irish Pub, 3728 Creighton Road. After the bar closed the group moved to Tripp’s home and when they arrived, Sheffield told Tripp he should have had a designated driver because he had been driving all over the road.
Detective Marcus Savage said Sheffield and Tripp began arguing over narcotics while in Tripp’s home. Sheffield told police Tripp pointed a handgun at him, put the gun in Sheffield’s mouth and pushed him onto the floor. Sheffield said Tripp also put his foot on his face, put the gun to his head and when he let him get up, he hit him on top of the head with what he thought was a chair.
Savage said Sheffield was taken to a local hospital for treatment of multiple injuries.
When officers went to Tripps’s home on Tuesday to serve a search warrant, they recovered a gun, two Oxycodone pills and about 15 grams of powdered cocaine worth about $1,500.