MANSFIELD, Ohio — Dustin Davis says he has a warning for others who may be tempted to meet up with strangers from dating apps.
The warning comes after he says he was attacked at a Mansfield park after making a connection on the dating app Grindr.
“Since then, the app has been deleted off my phone,” he said. “I’m completely done with it. That put so much fear in me, it’s unbelievable.”
It started late Thursday afternoon, Aug. 14. Davis says he met up with a man from Grindr at North Lake Park. They walked for a bit along the bike trail. That’s when he says another man approached them.
“He seemed to only have interest in me, like he was staring me up and down, had no interest in the friend that I was with,” he said.
Davis found that strange and said he started to get even more worried when that man followed the two of them back to the parking lot.
“As the friend that I was there with got in his car, I kinda looked at him, and I shook my head no, like kinda trying to signal him not to leave me because, by this time, I was already starting to get scared,” Davis said.
Davis said, when he got into his car, the man got in with him and refused to leave. The man then ordered him to drive, and they eventually ended up at another nearby park, Maple Lake Park.
There, Davis said the man asked him to perform sexual acts, which he refused.
“I looked back down at my phone, and the next thing I know, he’s hitting me, telling me to get out of my car,” Davis said. “He proceeds to hit me. By this time, he didn’t knock me out, but I blacked out. I could feel him hitting me, but I couldn’t see it.”
Davis said the man then reached across him, opened the driver’s side door, unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed him out of the car. The man then drove away, leaving Davis screaming for help.
Those screams were heard by neighbors who live in a house on a hill above the park. One called 911 while the other helped Davis.
The women told 10TV that Davis was extremely upset, and this is not the first incident they’ve either witnessed or heard from their vantage point.
Davis said he suffered cuts on his face and a concussion. And he was worried about the stolen vehicle, which is listed under his roommate’s name. It contained house keys, a garage door opener and other personal information.
So he was relieved to learn that the vehicle was recovered by Columbus police on Tuesday. He still has not heard about what shape it’s in or if it suffered any damage.
Meanwhile, Davis now believes the two men were working together, with one luring him to the park while the other planned to meet up with them to attack and steal from him.
“(I’m) trying to get my story out there, make it known to the citizens of Mansfield to be careful and not to trust anybody and to watch who they’re around because I don’t want this happening to anybody else because it was scary,” he said.
Davis says he has since deleted Grindr and now will be even more wary about meeting up with strangers.
“I just want for this not to happen to anybody else because it may progress, and the next person may not be so lucky to get away from them,” he said.
Mansfield police did take a report and are investigating the incident.