After allegedly yelling at a group of school children and fighting a tree, a shirtless Florida man was arrested in Milton on May 5.

George Ammons, 32, of Milton, was charged with disturbing the peace and booked into the Santa Rosa County Jail with a $100 bond. As of Tuesday, he remained in custody.

According to an arrest report, a Milton police officer was dispatched to Russell Harber Landing Park about a suspicious person who was upsetting a field trip of over 300 students at the park on May 5.

A teacher advised law enforcement that a white, shirtless man wearing blue jeans and a pair of glasses was “hanging around” the children, the report stated.

Teachers told police that the shirtless man’s aggressive and erratic behavior included yelling at and frightening the children.

When an officer arrived at the park, he observed Ammons standing bare-chested near the water’s edge of the Blackwater River holding a metal foot plate, the report stated. The officer recognized Ammons and asked him if he’d mind talking in the park’s parking lot, to which Ammons agreed.

The officer explained that he’d been called to the park because Ammons refused to leave the kids alone, the report stated. Ammons explained that he had come to the park to teach the students “the right way.”

Ammons told the police officer that he’d walked from “East Milton to Burger King” to see his children and believed that they might be in the park.

The officer told Ammons to leave the park until the field trip had left. Upon hearing this, the report stated, Ammons “walked a few feet and refused to leave and began fighting a tree.”

Ammons was first detained, then arrested and subsequently banned from Russell Harber Landing Park for one year.

Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.