ORLANDO, Fla. – A man is accused of pushing a laundromat employee up against a cash register and trying to hug and kiss her while attempting to pull her clothes off, the Orlando Police Department said Tuesday.
"She's like, ‘May I help you?’ (And) he said he wanted to come wash some clothes,” said a 7-Eleven employee, who learned of the situation and came next door to Dixie’s Coin Laundry to help. "And (the laundromat worker) said, ‘OK, where are your clothes?’ Then he said, ‘It's on my body.’”
The man -- who police identified later as Eric Davis -- was very aggressive, the 7-Eleven worker added.
"(The laundromat cashier) was behind the counter and he was like, on top of her, grabbing her, pulling on her clothes, like, literally trying to take them off," she said.
The worker, a 19-year-old woman, started screaming.
"A customer came in and said, 'There's a girl over there screaming for help.' (So I went over and) I said, 'Are you OK? Do you need any help?'" the 7-Eleven worker said. “And she said, 'Call the police.'"
Davis followed the victim to 7-Eleven, where he chased both women around the store, officers said.
Davis was arrested a short time after the incident, police said.
Davis entered the laundromat on Edgewater Drive through a back door that was left open. The victim said he was acting strange.
"He looked kind of off,” the victim said. “I don't want to say he was on something, but he probably was. He chased me around (a) car and chased (the 7-Eleven employee) all the way down to Dollar Tree.”
The laundromat manager said it was heartbreaking for her employee to experience that. This is the 19-year-old woman’s first job.
"It was heart-wrenching,” manager Stephanie Brown said. “I saw something in her eyes I haven't seen before -- maybe fear (or) concern. (It was) just something I've never seen before. I knew she needed to be with her parents.”
Davis is now held at the Orange County Jail, facing a battery charge.