Man Beaten, Run Over In Church Parking Lot: Sheriff

SARASOTA, FL — A Tuesday morning attack in the parking lot of Palm Grove Mennonite Church in Sarasota has led to the arrest of two men on attempted murder charges.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call about an injured person in the area of Beneva Road and Bahia Vista Street just before 2 a.m. March 7. They found Christopher Alley Guffey inside a home in the 1000 block of Beneva Road. The 39-year-old had “severe lacerations to his head along with other undetermined injuries,” an arrest report said.

Guffey told deputies that two men driving a black pickup truck had run him over while he was sitting on his bicycle in the 1087 Beneva Road church’s parking lot. The men, the arrest report said, then got out of the truck and beat Guffey with an object.

Guffey also told deputies the truck involved had the words “Black,” “Dog” and “Tree Service” written on it.

As Guffey was taken to a local hospital for treatment, detectives began looking for suspects in the case. The first stop was the church were detectives found Guffey’s bicycle “with significant damage” and a grassy area where there was heavy damage and tire tracks, the arrest report said.

Detectives interviewed Guffey again at the hospital and learned he knew his attackers as “CJ” and “Dog.”

According to the report, Guffey had gone to the church parking lot to charge his phone when the two men pulled up. Guffey heard one of the men yell “run him over,” before he was struck by the truck’s front bumper, the report said. He then heard one of the men yell, “back up and run him over again,” the report added.

Guffey told deputies he was struck at least three times before the men got out and began beating him with a blunt object.

Gufffey required 25 staples to close cuts on his head and also suffered a broken arm and nose in the attack, the report noted.

Around noon on Tuesday, deputies say they located the suspects and the truck. The truck had “signs of damage and what appeared to be blood on the hood,” the report said.

Following interviews with detectives, Charles Joseph “CJ” Blair, 24, and Robert Daniel “Dog” DeCola Jr., 36, were both charged with attempted murder. Both men listed their employer as Black Dog Tree Service.

Blair and DeCola were booked into the Sarasota County Jail and were being held without bond on Wednesday.

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Booking photos of Blair and DeCola courtesy of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office