What was reported in the Villages News was according to the arrest affidavit:

According to the arrest affidavit, a verbal argument escalated into a physical confrontation between Tucker and the victim, under the age of 18.
Tucker’s wife was present, but left the room when the argument broke out.
The victim was slapped by Tucker on the side of the head and knocked off a stool, falling to the floor, according to the arrest affidavit.
Tucker then jumped on top of the victim and began beating the victim with his fist.
Ultimately, the chief dragged the victim out to the front yard and hit the victim’s head against the front entry gate, according to the arrest affidavit.

Here's a link to the statute. He is accused of (3)(c)

Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

The following is copied from the statute.

(c) “Maliciously” means wrongfully, intentionally, and without legal justification or excuse. Maliciousness may be established by circumstances from which one could conclude that a reasonable parent would not have engaged in the damaging acts toward the child for any valid reason and that the primary purpose of the acts was to cause the victim unjustifiable pain or injury

At the very least, Chief Tucker needs to be put on suspension while this investigation is conducted. This arrest has to be a distraction to those who work for him. We'll see what kind of follow-up statement Janet Tutt makes tomorrow regarding this matter.

Wow….that's quite damning. Thanks for posting that section of the affidavit.

Here's a 2 minute video posted on WFTV.

Villages fire chief bonds out of jail following arrest on... | www.wftv.com

Well wow, fedUP, i can appreciate your defense of a friend, but am stunned by the hostile tone I detect. Did you not notice how many posters here have been urging patience until the facts are out? You are not the only one seeking fairness here.

Whoa
 

I agree with Parker. You seem to be a little too defensive and are accusing everyone on here exactly the same as you say they are toward the officially accused, Chief Tucker. Nothing is ever totally black and white, so wait and see.

As my dad always said and I firmly believe it, "I never did see a board that didn't have two sides."

I'm going to agree with Parker as well. FedUp you'd have us believe you're the authority on every single detail of the events here. You claim to be from out of state so I can only assume you weren't there. This whole affair is terribly sad for all parties involved. I would encourage you to take the same advise you're encouraging others here to take, a wait and see approach as to how this plays out.

Off topic: I had to copy and paste your post into a word document and divide it into paragraphs so I could keep my place. It was very difficult to read, and I was tempted to skip it. Paragraphs would make it easier to read.

It would be nice to give some background on your first post. Starting out with the statement "Allow me to not introduce myself" sounds sarcastic and suspicious. Do you vacation here? Do you have any connection to TV other than knowing the fire chief? How do you know about TOTV? I'm sorry, but it makes one suspicious of your comments, almost as if you were asked to post by someone, to come on with such an in-your-face first post. How do we substantiate the credibility of it?

I did not make it past #2

I am done with this thread and promise not to view it again

Um, where did we get this was a 12 YO? I could find nothing about the age of the child other than under 18.

We really don't know enough to say anything one way or another. What we do know is that he lost control in disciplining his son. We don't know if it has happened before. We do know that he has been arrested and charged with child abuse. Whether we ever find out anything more is doubtful since this will probably go to family court, not criminal.

We have one poster saying that Tucker is basically a bad guy; another saying he is a great guy. Most of us have no clue what he is other than our fire chief -- good, bad or indifferent. (BTW -- I don't want my fire chief cleaning fire trucks or rolling hoses -- I can't imagine that is in his job description.) As to being fired, that would be up to Sumter County, not Janet Tutt or The Villages -- he is an employee of the County. His office just happens to be in our community.

The report on WFTV said that his son attended The Villages High School so I think the son would have to be older than 12.