INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Grabbing your surfboard and heading into the Atlantic Ocean may not be a foolproof way to avoid arrest.

But that appears to be the strategy employed by a 20-year-old Vero Beach man on Oct. 14 at Wabasso Beach Park.

A man identified as the victim told an Indian River County Sheriff’s deputy that a man later identified as Justice Cureton yelled at him to leave the beach, an arrest affidavit states.

The victim said he moved to the area about two months prior and went to the beach to catch some waves.

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The victim told investigators “surfers tend to get upset when new surfers go to the beach causing too many to be out on the water and not enough time surfing,” records state.

A brouhaha over perceived usurping of surfing turf is not to be confused with a brouhaha over perceived usurping of surf and turf, a popular menu item pairing lobster and steak.

The victim said Cureton mumbled something and threw a beer can, hitting him in the face.

Cureton got his surfboard and went in the water.

A deputy asked a friend of Cureton’s to call him out of the water, but that apparently didn’t work. A lifeguard sounded an air horn, but Cureton turned around and didn’t return. The lifeguard asked a person to enter the water and call Cureton in, but that person “made no intent to call Justice in.”

The mother of one of the people asked to get Cureton said Cureton wasn’t going to get out of the water because he thought he’d be arrested. The mother wound up getting Cureton to come to shore.

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Deputies say Cureton smelled of booze, the report states.

Cureton said he “got in (the victim’s) face,” and told him to leave the beach, but denied throwing the beer.

Investigators noticed beer cans in Cureton’s vehicle that were of the same brand as the one the victim said had been thrown.

Cureton, of the 9600 block of 26th Street in Vero Beach, was arrested on a battery charge.