Fight breaks out in car driving on U.S. 19, man batters another with fish tank and beer bottle, cops say

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March 10, 2009
Fight breaks out in car driving on U.S. 19, man batters another with fish tank and beer bottle, cops say
PORT RICHEY -- Inside a green Chevrolet Malibu driving north on U.S. 19, an argument over $3 in gas money became a brawl, with a passenger clobbering another with a fish tank and then a beer bottle, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Here is how it all began:

Daniel L. Winter, 26, spent Monday evening at a strip joint called Calendar Girls in Port Richey. A few minutes before midnight, his friends -- Ashley Decicco, 18, and her boyfriend Shaun Nater, 30 -- picked him up and they all ate at a Burger King. Afterward, as Decicco drove her car northward on U.S. 19, she asked Winter for the $3 in gas money.

Winter, who was sitting in the back of the car, said no. He couldn't pay it, he said, because his rent was due -- even though he had just been at Calendar Girls and eaten at Burger King.

Then, according to authorities, they argued and Winter slapped Decicco in the face as she drove.

This enraged her boyfriend, Nater, so he twisted around from the front passenger seat and punched Winter, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

Then Winter grabbed the fish tank.

It just happened to be in the back seat of the car. He allegedly beat Nater with it, but the fish tank had no effect on Nater, according to a report, so Winter grabbed another weapon -- a beer bottle, also from the back seat. Authorities say Winter pummeled Nater with the beer bottle, but Nater was able to wrestle it away from him -- all while Decicco drove along U.S. 19.

After getting the bottle from his friend, Nater bashed it over Winter's head several times until it broke, authorities said.

This brawl on U.S. 19 continued until Decicco pulled the car over in a Denny's parking lot and called deputies, Pasco deputies said.

Both men were arrested on a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Winter and Nater are being held in the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of $10,000 bail.