HERNANDO Co., Fla. — A mom tries to stop two men from illegally dumping on the side of a road but the tense encounter ends with indecent exposure, a chase and a 911 call.
It all started behind the Dairy Queen on U.S. 19 near the Hernando-Pasco county line. Mom, Lindsey Prater, was driving with her husband and two young kids when they saw two men dumping a couch, trash and even a mattress.
Prater can be heard on the 911 call:
Dispatch: Little and 19?
Lindsey Prater: And they’re approaching Denton Avenue
Prater was angry and panicked after the encounter quickly escalates.
Prater: "They start showing me their genitalia and butts. I have two little kids in the back of the car.”
All of it sparked over a picture showing a man next to a truck and trash all around him. Prater says the man, and another who wasn't photographed were illegally dumping.
Her husband, Chris Prater, was in the passenger seat. He and his wife confronted the two leaving all the junk behind. But it all went downhill as soon as Chris Prater snapped a picture of one of the men.
“And that’s when he dropped his pants and said ‘if you are going to take pictures, take a picture of this!’ and that’s when my wife turned my daughter’s head to the side," said Prater.
The dumpers then took off toward Pasco County.
“They were weaving in and out of traffic, they cut trucks off and almost rear-ended a couple of people," said Chris.
His wife followed but he insists that while the men sped into the triple digits they themselves didn’t go over 60 mph.
The truck they're hoping you'll identify is a silver Dodge with a black grill. A cross is hanging over the mirror. Their tag starts with the letters IGK.
Hernando County Code Enforcement says what's worse is that there’s a county landfill that would have taken all of the junk for free, so long as they were county residents. It was five minutes away.
Unfortunately, the code enforcement officer couldn’t find anything in the trash that would help identify the men. Without that it means the property owner will be stuck footing the bill.
“They are the victim in this because they are going to have to pay to have this hauled away," said Frank McCabe with code enforcement.
McCabe also took a copy of the picture and information on the plate to see if it can help them identify perpetrators.
Now the Prater family is left just hoping someone recognizes the car or the man.
"As a father to have someone expose themselves to their children at the ages of six and two... it’s absolutely infuriating," he said.
The Hernando County Sheriff's Office says there are two potential crimes in this situation—indecent exposure and illegal dumping. The reckless driving has to be witnessed by a deputy in order to prosecute.
Deputies advise if you see someone dumping don’t approach them and definitely don’t chase after them. If you can do so safely, take a picture of them and then report them to your local police or sheriff’s office.
