Neighborhood Warning: Be on the Lookout

From a concerned resident and reader:

I was at the gym on Sunday afternoon around 4pm when this happened.

My mother-in-law's Camry was parked on the street in front of our house and my wife was in the process of putting the baby in the car to run to Publix when a black Dodge Durango SUV pulled up. A guy got out, approached my wife and claimed that he owned an auto dent store in Clearwater, was opening a Florida Ave location and wanted to fix a rather large dent in the Camry for $20 and a promise to spread the word about his business. My wife explained that it wasn't her car, but he was welcome to give her some business cards.

Just then, my mother-in-law saw them talking and walked onto the porch. As soon as he saw her, he walked away from my wife and approached the house. He made the same offer to her, to which she said "No thanks, but you're welcome to leave some business cards."

Here was his response, verbatim: "Well, when are you going to fix it, when gas prices go up some more?" To which she replied, "I'm sorry, I don't follow you."

His response: "Well, why don't I come back in a year or in five years and fix it then. Will you want it then?" Again, she said that she didn't understand what he was talking about.

He turned on his heel and began walking toward his car, cussing under his breath.

When he passed my wife, she could see that he was absolutely livid and she asked, "Are you being a jerk?"

He said, "No, but you're a b*tch."

She said, "Excuse me?"

He said, "You heard me, c*cksucker."

At that point, he turned to my mother-in-law (who recently beat cancer and has just gotten her hair back) and said "And you're a b*lldyke."

Thankfully, he got in his car and sped off.

She got a couple digits from a temporary tag on the black Durango and, obviously, she immediately called the police, made a statement, etc.

The bottom line is this: I have no idea if the guy was telling the truth about opening a dent removal place on Florida Ave and can't think of how to find out besides watching for one to open. IF ANYONE HAS MET THIS GUY, GOT A BUSINESS CARD FROM HIM, ETC. PLEASE email me ASAP @ ddoughty1@tampabay.rr.com so I can pass that info to the police.

I travel 18-20 times a year for work and can't stand to think about people like this roaming around the 'hood. Just spreading the word about it should help, and feel free to edit it for language, etc., but I chose to write it verbatim so you could see how quickly he escalated his attitude/actions to a dangerous level.

Thanks for reading, Jay.

Best,

Darren Doughty
4-Year SH Resident