When a strange man followed his daughter into the bathroom, police said, an Arizona dad asked security guards to “take care” of the situation or he’d do it himself. .
Now the dad faces second-degree murder charges for allegedly beating the man to death, ABC 15 reports. .
40-year-old Melvin Harris III went to pick up his daughter and her friends at a QuikTrip gas station In Phoenix the night of Aug. 2. As he waited, a man came up to his car and asked for some money, which Harris gave him.
The man then walked into the gas station. Later, Harris’ daughter and friends came out and told them the same man had followed his daughter into the bathroom and tried to get inside her locked stall door.
She had reported the incident to staff and later pointed out the man to her father. Police said the dad went inside the gas station and told a security guard he needed to take care of the situation or he “would do it himself.”
The security guard reportedly told the man he would handle it. But that’s not what happened, police said. Instead, witnesses told police, Harris got back in his car and drove to a gravel area where the man was standing, then got out and punched him in the face.
The man collapsed on the ground and was “snoring and moaning” while witnesses told police Harris punched and kicked him before leaving. The man later died at the hospital.
Officers checked security footage and located Harris at his home, where, they said, he told police he had punched the man but only after the man swung at him first, according to the report. .
But Harris’ fiancee told the Arizona Republic she doesn’t think Harris did anything wrong. “I’m not mad at him. I don’t feel like he did anything wrong. I love him. He did what he was supposed to do for our kid. .
You cannot tell someone they’re wrong for protecting their children. I would have done the same thing. I don’t feel bad at all for his actions. I feel bad that the man ended up dying in the process. I do,” she said.
Armstrong reportedly also had a criminal history that included shoplifting, trespassing and obstructing justice.
