By Jamal Thalji, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG — A 62-year-old retiree was arrested Monday on charges that he threatened to run over two of his next-door neighbors — employees at nearby North Shore Elementary School.
Michael A. Lawson was arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, according to St. Petersburg police, the culmination of his simmering feud with the school next door.
Police said that Lawson, who recently moved into the neighborhood, has lodged several complaints against the school at 200 35th Ave. NE and its staff. One of those complaints: staffers smoked on school property, and the smoke drifted across the street to his home at 300 35th Ave. NE.
Pinellas County School District rules prohibit employees from using tobacco products on any district property. Lawson reported the employees, police said, and they were told to smoke off-campus.
That's just what two cafeteria workers were doing around 11:15 a.m. Monday, police said. The two women were standing on a curb near the 3400 block of Oak Street NE and taking an off-campus smoking break when Lawson backed out of his driveway.
He then drove his silver 2003 Jeep "directly at them," according to a police report. Lawson braked just inches from the two, a police report said, but gunned his engine "as if he was going to run into the victim." One victim jumped out of the way.
"He expressed remorse that this had escalated," said police spokesman Mike Puetz. But police didn't say if he denied the allegations.
Lawson was freed from the Pinellas County jail on $20,000 bond Tuesday afternoon.
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