Quick update: The car has wrinkles in skin that makes me think the body/uniframe is twisted. Once everything is said and done, I’ll tear it down and measure it up to see if it is square.
https://www.newsdaytonabeach.com/stories/unsanctioned-event-to-blame-for-beachside-commotion,8385
So I want to share what happened to me during the “Invade Daytona” event on Saturday May 23rd. First off, let’s cut the bullshit. There was an event hosted, promoted, and carried out by multiple parties that disrupted Daytona for most of Saturday. I got caught in the middle of it all, by simply not being aware of the event.
I headed to Daytona from Port Orange like I do most every Saturday evening, to take my classic 1974 Dodge Charger NASCAR replica out for a cruise. When I found that A1A was blocked off, I returned to the Dunlawton bridge and headed down Ridgewood to ISB. It was busy, and most encounters were kids doing kid stuff. I had a few hang out of their car for pics of my Dodge, a few asking about the motor and what not. For the most part, they were all respectful. Well, that was the end of the fun.
Just west of Clyde Morris on ISB, attendees of the Invade event decided to block the center lane of traffic to play their games. There was a big “takeover” parking lot party starting to build at the Wells Fargo/McDonalds parking lot, so it appears the ones blocking the road were getting in on the fun. I stopped about 20 feet back from the car in front of me, another car was stopped about a car length behind me. I looked in my rearview mirror just in time to see a car blast through the redlight at Clyde Morris doing about 60. (and I have pics of skid marks that are 50-60ft long from her car so yes, I have proof of the speed) She hit the car behind me and a chain reaction took place. The car that hit us was driven by a young black female named Lansley Genest from Haines City.
Ok, now trigger warning coming up because I just mentioned race, and I am calling these people by name. Why? Well because within two minutes of the accident the young black female driver and her passenger were trying to break the windows out of the car that they had just hit, yelling about killing the “white bitches” in the car. This nearly started a riot as more and more people were arriving to the scene and calling to drag the “white bitches” out. She got in my face and started yelling about how black lives matter. No idea what the hell that was about. I was hit hard enough to rupture the fuel cell in the back of the car, which was leaking gas onto the road. When the firefighters helped me push the car into the parking lot, it was still leaking. I had two mid-20’s black males threatening to throw a cigarette into the gas that had dripped underneath the car. My wife put her truck between my car and them until the cops ran them off. The entire time we were in this lot, we had multiple cars blowing by us at 60-70mph. People racing around us, ect. The longer we were there, the more unsafe I felt. Luckily, DPD did a pretty good job of cleaning them out and left a cruiser nearby until our tow truck arrived. As a note, they rolled it with 8 squad cars to disperse the ever growing crowd.
I had nearly four years of work, and countless dollars wrapped up in my car. It is most likely totaled. All destroyed by some irresponsible piece of shit who came to our town for this “invade Daytona” event. I will never recover the damages that were done both financially and mentally. I am sure that the owner of the vehicle that hit us all, Marie Silien, of Haines City Florida, won’t be knocking on my door with a check any time soon, nor will she have any part in apologizing for handing her vehicle over to some irresponsible girl. What makes it even worse is the fact that instead of admitting her fault in the accident (again proven clearly by the photos of the scene and her skid marks) Ms Genest insisted on blaming the “white bitches”, and nearly causing a riot that would have surely ended up in their being harmed. I am just lucky that I am a pretty good sized guy that they thought better of continuing with once I got in between them and the car the girls were in. I absolutely feared for my safety, the safety of my wife, and the safety of these other young victims of this accident.
So in closing, the picture that Chief Capri was made to paint, as well as the story that Cynthia Slater from the local NAACP have tried to tell, is abhorrently incorrect. While there were some young people here having a good time (and hey I admit that I had some decent interactions with them) the overwhelming majority were here to do mayhem and enjoy lawlessness. The behavior of 99% of the people we interacted with at the accident scene were pure proof of it! The absolute truth of the matter is that the DPD, and VCSO were overwhelmed by these assholes and were not able to tell the story like it is for fear of being seen as racist. I grew up in the 80’s with spring break here, attended many Bike Weeks, and plenty of car races and I have never seen the type of behavior that I witnessed on Saturday night. To quote Cynthia Slater , “Anytime African-Americans come to this town there is no invasion, we have a right to go wherever there is to go in this town.” Oh there was an invasion and the people did exactly what they were told to do! If this is how you allow them to behave, they should be dealt with swiftly and not coddled and praised by the NAACP and City leaders. Would she would condone her children behaving like this? What happened to my rights to be able to travel the largest road in Daytona unimpeded by attendees of this event?
I have hired an attorney to file suit against the driver and owner of the vehicle that hit us, and I am hoping I can garner enough support to identify and sue the promoters of this event even after the city told him it was not welcomed here. I will post updates in the case as I get them.
While you are there, please buy a shirt or hit up the Go Fund Me, will you? It would help our legal fund!
Here is even more of the story and proof of what these people were up to. Shootings, fights, riots. The police being made to cover for them in the guise of shooting a music video. Who issues a filming permit?
https://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/20200526/here-in-daytona-party-central-coronavirus-still-worry–mark-lane
