TAMPA, FL -- As a tow truck driver for 31 years, Steve Allen is used to dealing with testy people. But he said things were different the day he met Jasen Bruce.
“I’ve never had anyone hit me as violently as he did,” Allen, the owner of Port Tampa Towing, remembers.
According to police reports, Allen met Bruce Halloween night in 2007. Bruce was at Calta’s Fitness. Allen hooked Bruce’s Jaguar up to his tow truck because Bruce had parked it in front of a janitorial business next door to the gym.
When Bruce saw that Allen was towing his vehicle, he ran outside with a couple other people, Allen recalls.
“They were all yelling and all of a sudden (Bruce) comes running across the bed (of the truck) with both hands and hits me in the chest,” Allen said. “It hurt. Probably the hardest I’ve been hurt in my life.”
According to the police report, Bruce defended himself to officers by saying that Allen grabbed him first and that he shoved back to get away. Allen disputes that, adding that Bruce is “a young man with a lot of rage.”
Allen suffered an injury to his back that still plagues him today.
Bruce pled no contest to battery charges against the truck driver.
He is now also facing aggravated battery charges with a deadly weapon after Tampa Police say he beat 29-year-old Alexios Marakis with a tire iron earlier this week. Marakis is a visiting Greek priest.
According to Tampa Police, Marakis asked Bruce, a marine reservist, for directions. Bruce told police he thought Marakis was a Taliban terrorist and attacked him.
Allen was not shocked when he heard about Bruce’s alleged attack on the priest.
“It didn’t surprise me. I knew the boy had a lot of rage in him,” Allen said. “He needs help.”
