Gasoline Assault Leads to Arrest in Surrey Township

On Thursday, July 2, 2026, at approximately 4:12 p.m., deputies with the Clare County Sheriff's Office responded to KC’s Lake Thirteen party store located in Surrey Township following a report of two men involved in an altercation in the parking lot.

During the investigation, deputies learned the dispute began after an argument over the blocking of the fuel pumps. The individuals involved were identified as a 27-year-old Farwell man and Richard Anthony Szott, 45, also of Farwell.

Investigators determined that during the argument, Szott, who was fueling his vehicle at the time, removed the fuel nozzle and intentionally sprayed the other man with gasoline. Szott then left the scene before deputies arrived.

Deputies located Szott a short time later at a second gas station in Surrey Township, where he was taken into custody without incident.

Szott was arrested in connection with this incident and on an outstanding Clare County warrant. He was charged with one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon.

Szott was arraigned in the 80th District Court in Clare County, where bond was set at $14,000/10%

The victim was transported to the Clare ER for non-life threatening injuries.