He was caught red-handed.
A Florida man is facing up to five years behind bars after allegedly attacking a victim with an open ketchup packet at a bus station.
Austin Simmons, 28, was passed out at the PSTA Grand Central Station in St. Petersburg on Tuesday night when a concerned passerby stopped to check on him to “see if he was okay,” according to an arrest affidavit.
Simmons — identified by police as homeless — allegedly “woke up irate” and aggressively advanced toward the would-be good Samaritan.
“The defendant walked in the direction the victim was standing and threw an open ketchup packet at the victim,” police said.
Simmons’ alleged victim was left with “two spots of ketchup on his jacket,” while police noted an open condiment packet was “pouring out on the floor.”
The condiment culprit told officers he was only trying to “give the victim a ketchup packet,” and denied any attempt to strike him, police said.
The roughly 0.3-ounce packet was not collected as evidence, according to the affidavit.
Simmons was charged with one count of felony battery.
Though the incident would typically be handled as a misdemeanor, his past ketchup-ed to him, with the charge being elevated to a third-degree felony because he had a 2019 battery conviction.
Arrest records do not specify the circumstances of his prior battery conviction.
Simmons was also charged with drug possession after a search uncovered a small amount of a chalky substance police identified as cocaine.
The sauce-slinging suspect was booked into the Pinellas County Jail on a $5,000 bond on both the battery and drug charges.
At an initial court hearing, he was ordered to have no contact with his alleged victim.
