81-year-old accused of pepper spraying neighbor’s kids, ages 3 and 6, over bubbles

By Hayley Crombleholme, WESH via CNN Newsource

OCALA, Fla. (WESH) – An 81-year-old Florida woman was arrested last week after allegedly pepper-spraying her neighbors, including two young girls.

Ada Anderson was arrested after police say she pepper-sprayed her neighbor, April Morant, and her two daughters, ages 3 and 6.

Morant said her children were pepper-sprayed over their use of bubbles.

“Bubbles. Literally. The bubbles put her [Anderson] in a whole other arena, whatever was going on with her mind,” Morant said.

Morant said her daughters were playing with bubbles in their yard “well away” from the fence that separates their properties when Anderson allegedly yelled racial slurs and leaned over the fence holding something.

“What went through my head is I thought she had a gun, so I literally kind of jumped, like it startled me … I didn’t know what was in her hand … and then she sprayed it,” Morant said.

According to a police report, Anderson sprayed pepper spray at Morant and her daughters.

Morant said her daughters ran inside to get bottles of water to help extinguish the burning sensation.

Morant said she’s had problems with Anderson ever since she moved into the neighborhood with her family in November. But she said the issues have been getting worse.

“I feel like she’s escalating,” Morant said.

Morant said on multiple occasions that Anderson has hurled insults and racial slurs at them.

“Since day one. I have recordings of her,” Morant said.

Those videos reportedly show Anderson saying things like “you’re not welcome in this neighborhood” and hurling racial slurs at the family.

For the pepper spray incident, Anderson is now facing battery charges on several counts.

Morant was hoping Anderson would also be charged with a hate crime.

“Just battery? But nothing on the kids, or maybe a hate crime because you were saying all this stuff while you were spraying this stuff,” she said.

Anderson did not respond to WESH’s request for comment. According to jail records, she has been released on bond.

Morant is hoping to get a restraining order against Anderson and is also trying to raise money to move.

“For you to do the bear spray stuff, like I feel like I don’t know what you have in that house,” Morant said. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be by her.”

Copyright 2025 WESH via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

Kids Were Blowing Bubbles on a Quiet Street — Until a Woman Allegedly Attacked Them with ‘Bear Mace’ and Racist Abuse

One of the little girls said her “nose hurt” after the alleged attack, say police

By 

KC Baker

Published on June 5, 2025 02:49PM EDT

64Comments

NEED TO KNOW

• April Morant and her children were blowing bubbles in their driveway when their neighbor allegedly got upset, police said
• The neighbor, Ada Anderson, 81, allegedly sprayed them with pepper spray
• Anderson is facing felony battery charges

An 81-year-old Florida woman is facing felony charges after she allegedly sprayed two young girls with pepper spray and called them racial slurs because they were blowing bubbles, authorities said.

On Friday, May 30, April Morant of Ocala called 911 to report that her neighbor, Ada Anderson, had allegedly “sprayed bear mace” on her and her two daughters, ages 6 and 3, according to the arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

Morant told deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office that she and her daughters were in the driveway of their property playing with bubbles when the suspect walked to the metal fence separating their yards and sprayed the bear mace at them, the affidavit alleges.

The suspect allegedly yelled “stupid n—–s” at them while she sprayed them, Morant told the deputies. She said the suspect has called her and her daughters racial slurs “multiple times in the past,” the affidavit alleges.

The 6-year-old told a deputy that she was playing with the bubbles when Anderson allegedly came to the fence and sprayed them and that her “nose hurt” because of the spray, according to the affidavit.

Morant also said her lungs were irritated by the spray, the affidavit said.

Deputies found an “orange/brown liquid” on the fence and grass on the victims’ property, it said.

The substance, which a responding deputy later identified as pepper spray, irritated the deputies’ noses and throats, according to the affidavit.

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Deputies spoke to Anderson, who said the victims were “running up and down the fence and yelling at her so she opened her porch screen door and sprayed the pepper spray at them,” the affidavit said.

She claimed the pepper spray did not touch them because the porch is 40 feet away from the fence, according to the affidavit.

Anderson was arrested and charged with three counts of second-degree felony battery. She is charged with second-degree battery because the alleged attack was racially motivated, according to the affidavit.

Morant says she has had issues with Anderson since she and her family moved to the neighborhood in November, she told local outlet ClickOrlando.

“She tells us every day, like, an everyday occurrence, every day since we’ve been here, we don’t belong here and we are monkeys,” Morant told ClickOrlando. “And she calls us the N word. So, it’s always something. So, I know she’s doing whatever she can to make me move.”

Anderson is scheduled to appear in court on July 1.

Bodycam video shows violence, pepper spray being used on teen girls during arrests at Grant County roller rink

by: Joe Schroeder

Posted: Apr 3, 2025 / 03:53 PM EDT

Updated: Apr 4, 2025 / 02:34 PM EDT

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This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this article misidentified a Grant County sheriff’s deputy involved in the incident as a Marion police officer. This has been corrected.

(WXIN/WTTV) — Bodycam footage released by Grant County law enforcement shows violence and pepper spray being used during the controversial arrests of two teenage girls outside a local roller rink. While police say those who responded were battered, the girls’ mother is alleging police brutality.

The incident began around 8 p.m. last Saturday when a Grant County sheriff’s deputy was called to Idyl Wyld Roller Rink just outside of Marion for a disturbance. It ended with violence and two teenage girls being pepper-sprayed and arrested.

Officials from Marion police and Grant County allege the girls kicked officers and resisted arrest which prompted the use of force. In a series of Facebook posts since the incident, the mother claims her son and daughters were unjustly attacked and injured.

Bodycam footage

Marion PD released edited bodycam footage from several officers involved on Wednesday. The videos provide more context to what happened, but are heavily blurred in some places so as not to identify any juveniles.

The videos mostly begin with MPD officers arriving on scene to assist a Grant County deputy with the investigation. Officers are quickly informed that a group of juveniles standing in the parking lot need to be trespassed from roller rink property. Some of the teens are yelling.

“No more yelling out of everybody,” a GCSO deputy says. “You shut your mouth.”

The deputy threatens to arrest a teenage boy wearing black for disorderly conduct if he does not back up and stop yelling. At the same time, a teen girl in a gray shirt is seen walking away from the scene and is told to return.

Another one of the teen girls standing around tells police that a group of adults — including a 22-year-old woman — were threatening to fight her and her siblings. A deputy then tries to take one of the teen boys away for questioning, but the girl in the gray shirt opposes.

“You don’t have to talk to him over there,” she says. “You talk to him right here.”

“You don’t tell me what to do, you shut your mouth,” the deputy replies.

“Hey, shut up,” one MPD officer says. “You all can go to f***ing jail, is that what you want? Shut up!”

The girl in the gray shirt again begins to take a few steps away from the officers.

“You in the gray shirt, come here now,” a deputy yells. “Put her in cuffs!”

The girl in the gray shirt is then grabbed from behind by an assisting MPD officer who tells her, “You’re jailed.” The teen starts moving her arms before the same officer shoves her onto the hood of a car. At the same time, a teen girl in a black shirt walks up behind the officer who is grabbing her sister.

The MPD officer wrestles the girl in the gray shirt from behind before taking her to the ground, while another officer leans in and pepper-sprays her. Soon after, she is handcuffed and rolled into a sitting position.

“Can you give me my glasses? I can’t see,” the girl in the gray shirt says.

“No, you can sit there for a minute. You f***ing put yourself in this situation,” an officer responds. “For God’s sake, you couldn’t act like a f***ing adult.”

At the same time the girl in gray is being detained, a sheriff’s deputy forcibly slams the girl in the black shirt to the ground. You can later hear officers allege she tried to jump on one of their backs.

Bodycam footage shows the girl in black hit the ground hard on her back, knocking her glasses off her head and her phone from her hand. Her legs are seen flailing in the air as she wriggles around the ground, which two officers later said resulted in her kicking them.

“She kicked me right in the f***ing face,” one said.

“Yeah, she kicked me too,” another replies. “[That is] battery of police.”

Once she hits the ground, the teen girl in black is pepper-sprayed by one MPD officer while another kicks her in the leg. A GCSO sheriff’s deputy strikes her in the chest at least once.

While she is still laying on her back, the girl in black is repeatedly told to “put [her] f***ing hands behind her back.” At that point, another responding MPD officer comes up with his pepper spray in hand and tries to spray the girl in black.

However, he is told that the girl has already been sprayed. The officer then turns around and threatens to spray any bystanders who are getting too close.

The girl is then rolled onto her stomach and her head pushed into the wet pavement while two officers attempt to cuff her.

After both teenage girls are handcuffed, several officers begin discussing how they were hit with pepper spray and begin complaining about the pain. Meanwhile, both girls are sitting on the ground in the rain while the teen boy in black continues yelling.

“She goes and walks two steps away and you f***ing pepper spray her? You goofy,” the boy says.

“I didn’t pepper spray us, I got sprayed jacka**,” one MPD officer replies. “So shut your mouth.”

Soon after, the boy is pushed into the bumper of a car and handcuffed by a GCSO deputy.

“I don’t give a f*** about going back to jail,” the boy says.

“I don’t give a f*** about taking you,” the deputy replies.

The teen in the gray shirt is then stood up by an officer, who she tells to “stop being so rough!”

“I’m not going to be any nicer to you, so stop,” the officer replies.

“I can’t see,” she says. “How do you want me to walk when I can’t f***ing see?”

“Yeah well, I got pepper-sprayed too because of how you acted,” he replies. “Shut up and get in the car.”

After the girl in gray is taken to a car, a deputy begins trying to get the teen boy in handcuffs to “sit down on the f***ing ground right now.” When the boy struggles to sit, one MPD officer is seen using his knee to push him to the ground.

“What the f***. How are you gonna knee me in my stomach?” the boy asks.

“Because you’re not listening,” the officer responds.

Another officer then walks over to the girl in black, who is still sitting on the ground. She tells the officer she also cannot see. The officer says he will guide her to the squad car as she walks and turn the air conditioning on for her once she is inside. The girl then asks for water.

“Lean your head back and face the wind,” he replies. “Water is not going to do any good for you.”

While most of the footage provided by MPD ends once the juveniles are put into squad cars, at least one video from law enforcement shows the girls’ parents arrive on scene. Their mom is threatened with arrest after she begins yelling.

What the mother says happened

The mother of the girls who were arrested has been active on Facebook since the incident, telling people what her kids say happened before, during and after the incident.

The woman said her children — which include the teen boy in black and both girls who were arrested — had been dropped off at the roller rink by her husband, who went inside with them and paid for their skates. She claims after her husband left, the owner of the roller rink called the police for a fight that allegedly never occurred.

The mother says her son had recently been the target of threats after turning down a young girl who made advances on him. She said the people making threats against her son, which included adults, were at the roller rink waiting for her children and began harassing them.

This reportedly led to a deputy being called to the scene and the alleged argument spilling outside into the parking lot. The woman said that once the deputy arrived on scene, he focused on her children and let the real instigators leave without being interviewed.

She alleges her children did not hit any responding officers or deputies and said they were the victims of excessive force by several officers. She also said that once she arrived on scene to help handle the situation, she was met with curse words and threats of arrest.

The mother also claims her children were never read their Miranda Rights before being detained. The edited bodycam footage provided by law enforcement does not ever show any of the teens being read their rights. GCSO made the official arrest.

Furthermore, the mother claims her two daughters were taken away without deputies even explaining the charges. She claims court officials would not let her know where her children were being taken and did not provide any info on their case until the following Monday.

Finally, the mother alleges that once her children were released from court, they were treated at a local hospital for several injuries. One of the daughters involved reportedly broke a finger, while the son, who was not arrested, had liver damage and a swollen face.

What police say happened

In media releases sent to FOX59/CBS4, Marion police and GCSO gave their versions of what happened, alleging that officers were battered and saying the use of force was justified.

MPD said their officers were called to assist a Grant County sheriff’s deputy who had responded to a fight outside of Idyl Wyld Roller Rink. Upon arrival, they say the GCSO deputy was “attempting to communicate and deal with a group of citizens who management had requested be issued criminal trespass notices.” GCSO later confirmed this.

Police say the deputy’s attempts to “gain cooperation” were met with “resistance” from a group of six juveniles.

“Three of the juveniles were cooperative from the beginning, and no police action was taken against them other than being criminally trespassed and released to their parents,” GCSO said.

MPD said a female — likely the girl in gray — began walking away despite “repeated directions given” to stop. The deputy then asked an officer to cuff her, police say.

“As the MPD officer attempted to do so, the female forcibly resisted and pulled away from the officer aggressively and resisted physically,” police wrote. “At the same time, another female subject quickly approached the MPD officer from behind and grabbed him forcefully.”

MPD claims the nearby GCSO deputy then “took the second female to the ground to stop her aggressive action.” They claim she “aggressively resisted” once on the ground and kicked two Marion officers.

“Multiple verbal commands were ineffective and use of force was needed to gain control,” MPD wrote. “GCSO and MPD officers were involved in this process.”

GCSO said the teen boy, who was “initially uncooperative,” later became compliant and was also released to his parents.

MPD’s release makes no specific mention as to what force was used by police — never mentioning any punches thrown by officers or pepper spray used. The release also skips over the teens being detained or arrested.

“When it became possible, the citizens who resisted and were arrested were provided a medical assessment and their parents were allowed to speak with them before they were transported.”

A GCSO release states the two juvenile girls were arrested and preliminarily charged with resisting law enforcement and battery on a police officer. Marion Police referred all charging questions to GCSO.

MPD’s statement ends by saying the department is grateful “no serious injuries occurred during the incident” and “order was restored.”