‘He Just Scooped Her Up’: $95 Theft Allegedly Leads To Tire Shop Employee’s Death

A Florida tire shop worker lost her life after she tried to prevent a customer from allegedly driving off without paying a $95 bill for used tires.

Ashley Tyer, a seven-year employee at Just Stop Tires in Mascotte, was allegedly thrown from the hood of the fleeing customer’s vehicle last week and placed on life support before ultimately dying from her injuries, according to WESH. Coworker James Kelly said he had just finished mounting the tires when the customer refused to pay. He alleged the man lowered the vehicle off the jack and jumped behind the wheel. (RELATED: Georgia Teacher Dies During Prank Gone Wrong)

“I was thinking, ‘grab the tag because he isn’t going to go far.’ We have the tag. We have the car. We have his name. We have everything,” Kelly told WESH. “Ashley stood in front of him so he wouldn’t go, and he didn’t care. He just scooped her up.”

A tense dispute over payment turned tragic when a customer sped away from a Mascotte tire shop, with employee Ashley Tyer clinging to the hood. As she battles severe injuries, coworkers demand justice and the community steps up to help. https://t.co/EeQ7qnDETS

— News 6 WKMG (@news6wkmg) March 21, 2026

Kelly alleged Tyer held on as the driver sped roughly half a block before taking a turn that sent her flying off the car.

“By the time I turned around, she was on the hood,” he told FOX 35. “I don’t know if she jumped, or they ran into her, but I know once she was on that hood, he knew that her life was in jeopardy, and he didn’t care.”

Mascotte police arrested Brandon Charles Lewis, 33, and charged him with a first-degree vehicular homicide, according to a Mascotte Police Department (MPD) statement shared online Monday by the City of Mascotte. The city confirmed to WESH that he was arrested for the alleged theft at the tire shop.

A judge set his bond at $500,000, Click Orlando reported. Lewis had prior convictions in Ohio for DUI and disorderly conduct, along with multiple Florida offenses like two counts of fleeing the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license or without a valid license, according to records obtained by the outlet.

The MPD said the incident demonstrated a “blatant disregard for human life” and warned that furtehr charges and arrests remain possible.

Shop owner Roy Cruz called Tyer the heart of the business, WESH reported. Kelly said he is now completing a flower bed Tyer had started building from a repurposed tire outside the shop as a tribute to his friend.