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Traveling road rage ends in arrestBy ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published July 24, 2003
HUDSON - Joe Ford didn't give much thought to the screaming and pointing man in the white car. Not even after the man cut him off as they both drove north on U.S. 19. "I just kept accelerating," said Ford, who was on his way to a home repair job in Beacon Woods on Tuesday morning. "I basically thought that's the end of it." But apparently 73-year-old Paul Straszynski had other ideas. According to a Pasco Sheriff's Office report, as Ford waited at a red light at State Road 52, Straszynski pulled up behind him and got out of his car. Straszynski took a swing at Ford through the open window, catching him on the chin. Straszynski also spit at Ford's window, the report said. "If the guy would have been my size, my age, there probably would have been a confrontation," Ford, 54, told the Times on Wednesday. "He was a little old man. I couldn't do anything to him." So, instead, Ford pulled out a Ruger handgun from his center console. He has a concealed weapons permit for the gun. "He quit beating on the window," Ford said, stressing that he was careful not to point the gun at the irate man standing in the rain. The light turned green and Ford once again took off, thinking the episode had passed. Taking a right turn onto Beacon Woods Drive, Ford headed to the job site. Then, in the rear mirror, he spotted the white car again. "Jeez," he said he thought, "it's the same guy." And again Straszynski got out of his vehicle and approached Ford's burgundy Silverado. He slapped at the window and, Ford said, called for a fight. Ford made a different call - to 911. But his cell phone would not work. He turned around and drove to Kmart and used a pay phone to report the incident. Straszynski, meanwhile, drove off. A deputy who arrived at the scene noticed a spot of blood on Ford's chin. He thinks Straszynski might have nicked him with a fingernail. Straszynski of 10211 Willow Drive, Port Richey, denied striking Ford, according to an incident report. He placed blame on Ford, saying Ford swerved into his lane at U.S. 19 and Jasmine Boulevard. Ford says Straszynski went through a red light. The deputy later arrested Straszynski on a battery charge as well as burglary, for allegedly putting his hand in Ford's vehicle. Straszynski spent a night in county jail before being released Wednesday on his own recognizance. Attempts to reach him for this story were unsuccessful.
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