Politics

Senator's son gets probation for push

Charles Nelson must get treatment, too.

ORLANDO - Sen. Bill Nelson's 31-year-old son was sentenced Friday to two years of probation, drug and alcohol treatment, 200 hours of community service and an anger management class for pushing a police officer in November.

In June, a jury found Charles Nelson guilty of battery on a law-enforcement officer, which is a third-degree felony, and resisting arrest without violence, a misdemeanor, for an incident in downtown Orlando after his father's re-election celebration.

Police said the younger Nelson was trying to carry a woman who had passed out on a sidewalk and that he pushed an officer after he was ordered to put her down. The senator's son was pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by police.

Before the three-day trial began in June, Nelson turned down the state's offer to plead guilty to the charges in exchange for supervised probation, alcohol counseling and a letter of apology to the Orlando police officer.

At trial, Nelson's attorney told jurors his client did not realize the person he pushed was a police officer because the man was wearing a bicycle police uniform.

Nelson, a Medicare/Medicaid consultant, lives in Washington.

[Last modified September 14, 2007, 22:41:07]