It wouldn’t be a week in America without a Florida man doing Florida man things. This week’s Florida man is Joseph Max Fucheck who, after seeing a Black man checking his mail, decided to pull a gun on him and go on a racist rant.
NBC News reports that Fucheck was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm with prejudice and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to a statement from Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. On Jun. 14, Dwayne Wynn was talking to his neighbor when he saw Fucheck place an object in his mailbox. Wynn went to go check his mail and found that Fucheck had placed one of those “We buy houses...CASH!” business cards.
It was at this moment, Fucheck decided to go full Florida Man.
From NBC News:
Fucheck circled back toward Wynn in his Jeep, “jumped out of his vehicle, and began a profanity-laced rant, stating, ‘That’s not your property motherf—-er! I saw you! I was down the street watching you! I saw you take that out of there. You’re just a motherf—-ing nosy neighbor! Give me my card, that’s my property!’” the statement said.
Fucheck twice lunged at Wynn before pulling out a firearm and pointed it at Wynn, the statement said. After he lowered the gun, Wynn began filming the encounter.
In the video, Fucheck can be seen slurring his words and claiming he carries a gun because he is both a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Navy Seals and was “the head of the SWAT team in Hillsborough County.”
Which, uh, is doubtful.
Fucheck goes on to accuse Wynn of not owning his property and as he drives off calls Wynn the n-word and says “This is why you people get shot.” There were multiple witnesses to the incident, including a couple of children. Fucheck was eventually arrested on Jun. 30 and booked at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade County.
Fucheck was charged under Florida’s hate crime law. “All Mr. Wynn wanted to do was go into his mailbox for his mail. Suddenly, as the video shows, Mr. Fucheck accosted him with a barrage of ugly statements and racial slurs.” Rundle’s statement read. “After speaking with all the involved witnesses and reviewing the evidence, we are alleging that but for the fact that Mr. Wynn is a black male, the entire incident would not have occurred.” While Rundle’s office has said that Fucheck is a convicted felon, it has not been made clear what his prior crimes were.
Attempts to contact Fucheck by NBC News were unsuccessful. The real estate agency he was listed as working at basically said “we don’t claim him,” and denied that he worked there.