The owner of Simply Romance on First Street was unpleasantly
surprised when two men posing as last minute customers charged into
his store and beat him up.
The owner of Simply Romance on First Street was unpleasantly surprised when two men posing as last minute customers charged into his store and beat him up.
Hank Provost was closing up shop about 9:45 p.m. March 4 when two men knocked on the front door and convinced Provost to let them in, Provost said.
“I went to open the door and the next thing I know, they were beating on me,” he said.
Provost suffered a broken nose in the scuffle when one of the assailants used a cell phone as a weapon, he said.
“They kicked my phone out of my pants and he beaned me right between the eyes with it,” Provost said. “I was bleeding like a stuck pig.”
The two men did not take anything from the store and fled after the attack, said Sgt. Jim Gillio. Provost said he ran after his assailants who then tried to run him over with their car.
“I don’t think they expected me to fight back,” he said.
Provost got both a description of the car and a license plate number, which he gave to police, he said. Gillio said police did not want to give out the car information because it could jeopardize their investigation.
Gillio said police responded to the scene soon after the attack and are actively investigating the case. The assailants were both described as young, thin Hispanic males with short hair. Both spoke English, Gillio said. Police were not ready to release a vehicle description at this time, he said.
