A Kentucky man is facing battery charges after police say he struck an officer a day after cashing out his $167.3 million Powerball prize.
The incident happened at the popular TradeWinds Resort in Pinellas County, Florida, on Tuesday evening. The arrest affidavit states that James Farthing was in a fight with another guest when officers arrived. As a deputy stepped in to break it up, the affidavit states Farthing kicked him in the face and tried to run, Fox 35 Orlando reports.
He now faces charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. Farthing’s girlfriend, Jacqueline Fightmaster, was also arrested for disorderly intoxication.
WLKY interviewed Farthing about his Powerball winnings just a day before the incident. The 50-year-old said he’d be splitting the prize with his mother, Linda Grizzle.
“I still don’t believe it’s real. I’ve caused her a lot of stress, but I’ve kept my faith and done right,” Farthing said of his mother.
Grizzle was the first to tell Farthing he won, she told WLKY.
“I called and texted it to him, and I said, you know, and he said, the man here sold it to ring,” she said.
Farthing bought the ticket at Clark’s Pump N’ Shop in Georgetown. He’s now the winner of Kentucky’s largest Powerball jackpot ever, shattering the previous record in 2009.
“No, it can’t be. Nobody in Kentucky ever wins. But then, I was like, wow, we really did sell a winning ticket,” Lynetta Robinson, assistant manager at Clark’s Pump N’ Shop, told WLKY.