Good deed costs vet his van

His vehicle is stolen, and later wrecked, when he stops to help a couple of stranded motorists.

By JOE HUMPHREY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 18, 2000

TAMPA -- Veterinarian Callum W. Hay was on his way home from emergency surgery Wednesday when he decided to help a pair of stranded motorists.

The motorists, authorities said, repaid Hay by punching him and stealing his minivan, which they wrecked less than a mile away.

Hay suffered minor injuries. Two people were arrested and charged with carjacking, a first-degree felony.

It was just before 3:30 a.m. when Hay noticed a wrecked Mazda on Linebaugh Avenue near the Veterans Expressway. He pulled onto the shoulder behind the car, remained in his 1999 Dodge Caravan and called 911.

The motorists, he said, asked for a ride to Town 'N Country. Hay stepped out of the van and refused their request. That's when, according to police reports, 26-year-old John A. Pizarro punched Hay in the neck. Frightened, Hay ran.

"He said he was going to do me in. I ran behind the car so it obscured his view of me," Hay said. "I got about 20 feet before I looked back."

By then, the van was gone.

Hillsborough deputies responded after Hay called 911 a second time, then found the van crashed into a guardrail on Wilsky Boulevard and the Veterans Expressway. Pizarro and Consuelo K. Veith, 22, were arrested.

Veith, who was injured in the second crash, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Both were taken to the Orient Road jail. Veith, of 5801 30th Ave. E, was charged with carjacking and five counts of driving with an invalid license. Her bail was set at $19,500. Pizarro, of 33627 Chancey Road in Zephyrhills, was being held on $19,000 bail on charges of carjacking, battery and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.

Hay said he'd probably stop again to help an accident victim, but he'd change one thing. "I would not have gotten out of the vehicle," he said.

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