There is not enough evidence to convict two men arrested in the case, they say.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published October 30, 2004
LARGO - When two men were arrested on charges they slashed car tires outside a Largo gay bar earlier this month, authorities said the case may warrant prosecution as a hate crime.
But now the case won't be prosecuted at all.
Prosecutors decided not to pursue any charges against the two men because they did not think there was enough evidence to convict them.
Largo police arrested David P. Torgalski, 36, and Harold Kolodzik Jr., 23, on Oct. 1. They were booked into the Pinellas County Jail on criminal mischief charges.
Police said the men made anti-gay comments inside the Sports Page Pub, then came back and slashed the tires of two cars parked outside. The pub, 13344 66th St. N., generally caters to lesbians.
A bar employee said it's not uncommon for people to come inside not realizing it's a gay bar. Some are polite when they find out, others are not.
The employee said Torgalski and Kolodzik were "pretty buzzed" when they came into the bar. They left after making anti-gay remarks and were told not to return.
Shortly afterward, patrons saw the men running out of the parking lot. Two patrons noticed their car tires had been slashed.
The day of the arrest, prosecutors said they would look at the case to see if it qualified as a hate crime, which would carry a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. To do that, prosecutors would have to prove the tire-slashings were motivated by prejudice.
But prosecutors found it difficult to even prove the men committed the crime in the first place.
No one actually saw them slash the tires and both men denied they did it, assistant state attorney Mark McGarry said Friday.
Kolodzik told police that Torgalski did it, but dirt on Kolodzik's hands seemed to suggest otherwise. Torgalski denied either of them slashed the tires, McGarry said.
"Everybody's relatively sure it was these guys who did it," McGarry said. "I'd put money on one of them. But which one, I don't know."
The owner of the Sports Page Pub could not be reached for comment Friday.
