Woman Arrested After Using a Man as Hood Ornament

A battle over a parking space turned violent Monday after a Holiday woman decided she was mad and wasn't going to take it any more, police say.

The incident took place around 11 a.m. April 16 as Evelyn Denesi, 77, of Holiday, was attempting to pull into a parking space close to the entrance of Walmart, 8701 U.S. 19 in Port Richey.  

A driver in a 2006 Dodge Caravan pulled into the space Denesi wanted, and she felt he cut her off, said Port Richey Police Department patrolman Gary Lush. Denesi was “mad” the other driver got the space, Lush said. 

After she parked five spaces away, Denesi scratched the passenger side of his caravan with her keys, an arrest report said.

The driver of the Caravan confronted Denesi.

The man then stood behind Denesi’s car, a Buick, trying to get the license tag information. She drove backward, almost hitting him, according to the report.

At this point, the man went to the front of the car and put his hands on the roof, Lush said. Denesi then drove forward, knocking the man onto the hood of her car, Lush said.

Denesi continued to drive several hundred yards in the parking lot with the man still on her hood. She drove in a serpentine pattern until she was corralled by people in the parking lot, the report said.

“She thought that he was going to do something to her,” Lush said.

The man, who lives in Holiday, sustained minor injuries, Lush said. 

Denesi was charged with criminal mischief and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She was released from the Land O’ Lakes Jail overnight after making $10,000 bail.