A man wearing a dunce cap and a sign reading, "I beat women. Honk if I'm a scumbag," sat in a busy intersection in Tampa, Fla. this week.
According to ABC News, 20-year-old Tampa resident Alisha Hessler told the man he had one of two choices: either go to jail or sit on the ground with the sign and white cone hat.
"He's doing it because he doesn't want to go to jail," Hessler told WFTS in Tampa.
The man reportedly beat her the prior weekend, after she met him at a Florida club. After the night out, Hessler began walking home. The man then tried to put his hand up her skirt. Hessler said "no" and pushed his hand away, according to Tampa Police Department Lt. Ronald McMullen. But he wouldn't cease accosting her until she slapped him squarely across the face.
"That's when he started beating me repeatedly until I had a broken nose and a concussion," Hessler said.
The 20-year-old went to the hospital for treatment the next day. After filing a police report, the detective informed her that a doctor's diagnosis was necessary to file a felony battery charge, according to ABC.
Instead, Hessler contacted the man on Facebook and told him he could either be arrested or face a round public embarrassment. He chose the latter.
"He was wasted and I did hit him first because he was groping me and he wouldn't stop. I feel like if he was sober he wouldn't have done that," Hessler said.
She then signed an official withdrawal of her complaint, Thursday.
"She chose to take care of it herself," McMullen said. "She chose not to press charges."
Hessler said she didn't feel like she'd been truly absolved of the situation.
"I feel that it's not enough, honestly," she said. "There was one more thing I wanted to do, but I didn't because I was afraid it was too risky."
That extra thing? A waiver the man would have to sign, allowing her to beat him up for 10 minutes.
