Palm Springs, CA
Armed with what employees say was a beer bottle, an irate man managed to bust out the window of Ricardo Caldron’s red pick-up truck and even slash one of his tires.
"And the beer went there in the seat, which is probably why my seat is all wet right now," said Caldron, an employee at the 7-Eleven off Indian Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs.
He works overnights at the convenient store and gets his share of hostile customers. The man he’s encountered dozens of times, is one of them.
"You know he was throwing trash at customers and he’s here all the time doing bad stuff," said Caldron.
Employees say they banned him from going inside of their store after several incidents put several people in danger. The manager of 7-Eleven says he’s vandalized other businesses in the area and even busted out her car windows several times.
Employees say he shows up daily and it was no different early this morning. Just after midnight, he appeared in surveillance video, using something to bust out a window of Caldron’s truck.
"This is the fourth window he breaks and this morning he was kicking my employees car," he said.
Hours later, Caldron says he appeared in surveillance video again. This time, he called police.
"Police says don’t confront him, don’t confront him, you know," he said.
Minutes later, police arrived to the scene, handcuffed the suspect, and took him away. The news of his arrest puts the manager at 7-Eleven at ease but she asks how long he’ll stay behind bars. She says he’s been released several times in the past and continues to come back to her store, causing more trouble.
For Caldron, he may have hundreds of dollars worth of damage to his truck but he can’t put a price on peace of mind for his fellow employees and customers.
