A South Tampa man whose protest became a familiar sight for thousands of local motorists before it turned violent has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial. He had been set to defend himself on charges that he crashed his truck into an office building over a customer service complaint.
Nearly every day since last spring, retired security guard Robert Beaty, 70, sat in a folding chair with his dog and a cooler to protest the veteran-focused banking and insurance company USAA.
Seated across from USAA’s 128-acre New Tampa campus or along busier Bruce B. Downs Boulevard nearby, Beaty’s signs read “thou shalt not steal” and “Unfair to Seniors Anti American.” His quiet consistency through rain and heat made him an object of fascination…