Dine, Dash, Drive
OCEAN CITY, MD - David A. Matias, 18, of Millersville, Md., was in Worcester County Circuit Court this week facing first-degree assault charges and a host of other charges stemming from an incident last March when he compounded a first mistake with a series of even worse offenses in a bizarre sequence of events that ended with him running over a busboy on Coastal Highway after driving with the victim clinging to the hood of his car for three blocks.
Matias and three other individuals came into the Embers earlier that night and each ordered the buffet, running up a dinner tab totaling over $150. When the four skipped out of the restaurant without paying, a small group of employees went out to the parking lot to help their co-worker retrieve the money.
One of the employees - a busboy - stood in front of Matias vehicle, preventing it from leaving. Matias first stopped his Mitsubishi Lancer in front of the busboy, then sped up and raced toward him, hitting the victim and flipping him up on the hood of the vehicle.
According to police reports, the victim held on and pleaded with Matias to stop the vehicle as it sped down Coastal Highway. Roughly three blocks later, the windshield wiper the victim was clinging to finally gave way, launching the victim in front of the vehicle. Matias then ran over the victim's arm and continued to drive. He was arrested a short time later with a myriad of traffic offenses.
