No charges in altercation he says started with anti-gay slurs

When Dan Turgeon and Jim Huebner stopped by a Pizza Hut Feb. 10, they had no idea the night would end with a visit to the hospital and questioning by local police.

But that's exactly where the couple found themselves after Turgeon said he was called a â┚¬Å”faggotâ┚¬Â by a 19-year-old wearing a Pizza Hut uniform and attacked from behind in the parking lot.

â┚¬Å”This kid is running around. Hit me, called me a â┚¬Ëœfaggot' and nothing is happening to him,â┚¬Â Turgeon said.

Tarpon Springs Police did not charge the alleged attacker with any crime, but Turgeon said he injured his hand during the scuffle and is unable to do his work as a veterinary tech. Despite what he describes as an erroneous police report and no charges, Turgeon isn't giving up his fight for justice.

â┚¬Å”If he murders someone at some point,â┚¬Â Turgeon said of the man he claims attacked him, â┚¬Å”it would be on my hands.â┚¬Â

The night began as almost any other for the couple. But when they discovered their favorite Subway was closed, Turgeon and Heubner decided on pizza or dinner. Turgeon said he ordered a Big Box meal and encountered a rude, eye-rolling employee at the register.

â┚¬Å”She was not pleasant the whole time,â┚¬Â he said.

After paying, the couple left to buy drinks from a nearby Sweetbay. Upon returning, and after mulling it over in the store, Dan said he wanted to speak with the manager, who ended up being the same woman he encountered before.

Turgeon said he told the 21-year-old employeeâ┚¬â€who refused to give her nameâ┚¬â€that she was â┚¬Å”acting bitchyâ┚¬Â toward the couple. According a police report, the employee also heard the word â┚¬Å”c*nt.â┚¬Â

But that's not true, says Turgeon. â┚¬Å”I never use the â┚¬Ëœc-word.'â┚¬Â He said that is just one of many errors in the police report.

Turgeon said that the woman told him, â┚¬Å”I'm not giving you my name, faggot.â┚¬Â To which Turgeon said he responded by saying, â┚¬Å”Yes, I'm a proud gay man.â┚¬Â

The police report, however, says that Turgeon's response was that he was in â┚¬Å”a homosexual relationship with his partner, James.â┚¬Â

The altercation resulted in three young men in Pizza Hut shirts coming to the front of the store, asking the couple to leave. After threatening to call corporate, Turgeon and Heubner leftâ┚¬â€but the men say the three young men followed them to the parking lot.

Lot assault
Once outside, Turgeon said he turned around to confront the three men.

Turgeon said he told the men, â┚¬Å”You need to get out of my face,â┚¬Â when he found himself nearly nose-to-nose with a 6-foot, 150-pound 19-year-old from New Port Richey.

â┚¬Å”I was afraid for my life,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”So I shoved him out of the way.â┚¬Â

According to Turgeon, he and his partner returned on their path to their vehicle when he heard, â┚¬Å”Take this, faggot!â┚¬Âand the 19-year-old struck him in the back of the head.

Huebner says he watched as his partner went down; his attacker already being restrained by the others.

â┚¬Å”They backed up, realizing this thing had just got more serious,â┚¬Â Heubner remembered. â┚¬Å”And they said, â┚¬ËœGo ahead and call the police!'â┚¬Â

Victim or aggressor?
After meeting with Turgeon and Huebner at the Tarpon Springs Police Department, two officers spoke with the manager at Pizza Hut.
In the police report, the manager told officers she did not know how Turgeon was injured and said that none of her employees followed the men out of the store.

Mary Englehart with the State Attorney's Office investigated the case after the Tarpon Springs Police Department forwarded it to her office. She said because Turgeon told the officers he was the first to make physical contact after hearing the homophobic slurs, he was the aggressor in the conflict.

â┚¬Å”I told the truth but I should have lied,â┚¬Â said Turgeon. â┚¬Å”They did.â┚¬Â

Unfortunately for Turgeon, there were no other witnesses to the altercation. Della Connoly, assistant county court division director, agreed with Englehart's decision to not press charges.

â┚¬Å”He {Turgeon) was the aggressor,â┚¬Â said Connolly. â┚¬Å”A push is considered a battery. We would not be able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt in court.â┚¬Â

No charges
After the police left Turgeon and Heubner, the couple went to a nearby hospital, where they learned Turgeon's hand was broken in his fall.
Phone calls to a Pizza Hut representative were not returned but Turgeon said that the company is in the process of picking up his medical tab.

When the Tarpon Springs Pizza Hut was contacted for this story, a manager on duty said the female manager who wouldn't give her name during the altercation was fired. When Watermark asked to talk about the incident, the manager hung up the phone.

Turgeon said he has spoken with a regional manager of Pizza Hut and learned that his alleged attacker wasn't a staff member of the store, but was there helping his girlfriendâ┚¬â€the managerâ┚¬â€that evening.

The police report, however, said that Turgeon's attacker had on clothing identifying him as a Pizza Hut employee and that he returned to cleaning the kitchen after the interview. â┚¬Å”Emotionally, I don't feel all there,â┚¬Â Turgeon said, adding that he has battled depression since the attack. He said he feels abandoned by the police, the state attorney's office and Pizza Hut management.

â┚¬Å”I feel like nobody cares,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”He took away from me something he shouldn't have. When I saw him later walking down the street with not a care in the world it really ticked me off. We've got a guy walking around thinking he can hit a gay man and get away with it.â┚¬Â
In the meantime, Turgeon is nursing physical and emotional wounds, and is still unable to work.

â┚¬Å”Nobody cares if I can't do my job,â┚¬Â Turgeon said. â┚¬Å”Nobody really cares that it's a hate crime. Turgeon is in the process of initiating a civil suit with St. Petersburg attorney Scott Jeeves.