Unruly customer ordered to leave, is taken to hospital
Staff writer
A man who spent a short time at the Sale Barn in Tampa before becoming belligerent and being ordered off the premises Sunday was taken to Hillsboro Community Hospital after neighbors reported he was crawling through back yards in the 400 block of Main St., vomiting and passing out.
Wilson Davis, owner of the Sale Barn, said he quickly had doubts whether the customer should be drinking.
“He came in predisposed with something else,” Davis said. “He had three drinks while he was here and he got loud and mouthy and started yelling and cussing.”
Davis refused to serve him more, but the customer became belligerent enough to show Davis a knife and try to get Davis to fight him.
Davis said the customer went back and forth between being cooperative and belligerent.
“He was OK, and he left, and he changed,” Davis said.
Before leaving, Davis said, the customer opened an eyeglass case, removed a bong, and invited Davis to share drugs with him.
Davis said if he had known who the customer was, he never would have let him in the door.
“Had I known he was a recovering addict, I would have never served him,” Davis said.