WATCH: 2 suspects beat up teen, steal his bike in Clearwater over near collision
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Clearwater Police are searching for two suspects who beat up a teenager and stole his bike last week after almost crashing into him moments before.
According to the Clearwater Police Department, on May 1 just before 7 p.m., the teen nearly collided with a gray Nissan SUV in the parking lot of a gas station at Fort Harrison Avenue and Chestnut Street.
"I'm not sure whose fault it was or what, but there was that near contact," Rob Shaw, the spokesperson for the Clearwater Police Department, said. "That's what really apparently angered the people in the SUV. Instead of just letting it go, they continued to follow him, harass him. At one point in time, the passenger may have reached out and either hit him or the mirror on the SUV hit him. But they followed him several blocks away to where the passenger got out, tackled him and threw him to the ground, and then began beating him."
The driver ran the teen off the road near Hamlet Avenue and Belleview Boulevard, Shaw said.
"It looks like one of the men had on a security uniform. The witnesses there who saw this incident talked about how he had a uniform shirt on that looked like he was security, that it had some type of a badge," Shaw said about the driver.
The driver also is a white man with salt and pepper hair and glasses, Shaw said. The passenger is bald, white and has an arm full of tattoos plus a possible neck tattoo, he said.
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"We all experience things when we're driving where we see something that we don't like, but let it go. You don't need to follow somebody. You don't need to nearly run them off the road, nearly strike them with your car. You don't need to throw them off the bike and beat them up. That is just inexcusable, ridiculous behavior that can't be tolerated," Shaw said.
Shaw said the teen has some bruises and cuts, but will be OK. The two suspects could face several charges, including battery. If you have any information about the suspects or the incident, police ask you to call them at 727-562-4242.
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