Update: Meyers' arraignment is scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m.
The owners of the motorcycles Smith Meyers is accused of drunkenly knocking over while on Spring Break are prepared to take legal action against the incoming UF Student Body president.
Mark Hollandsworth and Randy Fischer, members of the Axeman Professional Firefighters Motorcycle Club, woke up on March 7 in Key West while on vacation to find a police officer’s business card on their scratched-up Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
Frustrated with the damage done to their motorcycles — which will cost at least $6,000 for fresh coats of paint and other repairs — the men said they just want Meyers to pay for the damages.
“In the motorcycle community, motorcycles are off limit,” Fischer said. “Mr. Meyers is kind of a marked man right now.”
Multiple requests for comment to Meyers’ attorney were not returned.
Fischer said he has hired a lawyer, who will bill Meyers for the damages. If Meyers doesn’t pay up, Fischer said he plans to take him to court. During the incident, Hollandsworth and Fischer were sleeping at Hollandsworth’s rented house, and their motorcycles were parked nearby, Fischer said.
Meyers knocked down Fischer’s 2009 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob, which Fischer said retails for about $13,000, according to an arrest report filed by the Key West Police Department. Meyers also pushed Hollandsworth’s 2007 Harley-Davidson Street Glide, which Hollandsworth said retails for $30,000, into Fischer’s motorcycle.
Fischer said the damages to his motorcycle will cost between $3,000 to $5,000, and Hollandsworth said the damages to his will cost at least $3,000.
“It’s so disrespectful to do what he did,” Fischer said.
Fischer, 57, from Urbana, Ohio, said he has visited Key West more than 60 times, and this was the first time he brought his motorcycle.
He’s been an associate member of the Axeman motorcycle club for about six years and owns a motorcycle and car dealership in Ohio, he said.
The biker club the two men are a part of is a charitable club made up mostly of firefighters, although only Hollandsworth served as a firefighter.
Fischer said the Axeman wouldn’t attempt to get revenge on Meyers, but other motorcycle clubs in Florida might.
Hollandsworth, a retired firefighter and one of the oldest members of Axeman, said he plans to represent himself during Meyers’ arraignment, the date of which hasn’t been set.
“That’s just not a cool thing to be doing,” the 61-year-old from Trenton, Michigan, said.
When Hollandsworth learned Meyers was preparing to become UF’s Student Body president, he said he was surprised a person of that stature would damage his bike. He said Meyers should step down and apologize to the university. Fisher agreed and said he was shocked that UF didn’t remove him from the position.
“I’m sure he’s very embarrassed,” Hollandsworth said. “I hope for his sake that he learned a lesson.”
Contact Paige Fry at pfry@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @paigexfry
Randy Fischer, left, and Mark Hollandsworth, right, woke up March 7 in Key West while on vacation to find a police officer’s business card on their scratched-up bikes. The motorcycle club the two men are part of is a charitable club made up mostly of firefighters.
