BALTIMORE — The white roses sitting on the coffee table are beautiful, but more than anything, Mary Margaret Philpot wishes they weren't necessary.
"The neighbors, just - flowers were this morning. There's muffins and fruit. There's a grocery delivery. I mean, they're endless. But it doesn't change the fact that Dave's not here," Philpot, through tears, told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington on Monday morning.
Dave and Mary Margaret made Fells Point their home in 2014. After years of visits, sparked by a 2004 article in the New York Times travel section, the couple had fallen in love with the area, especially how friendly all the neighbors were. Very quickly, Dave became one of those friendly neighbors too.
"There isn't anyone you would speak to that wouldn't say what a great guy he was," Mary Margaret said. "He had this great Kentucky accent, this deep Sam Elliott voice, and he made you laugh because he had these “Dave-isms” like, ‘How are you, Dave? Oh if I was any better, I’d be twins.’ I mean, just these constant funny things."
On Saturday, August 17, Dave did something he did all the time. He took their dog, Chip, for a walk around the block. His wife was working, hosting a food tour in Little Italy, when she got a phone call from him.
"He doesn’t call me when I’m working. So I’m like, ‘uh-oh, something’s wrong,'" she recalled.
He told her he'd just been assaulted near the intersection of Eastern Avenue and South Broadway. The incident was captured by surveillance cameras at the business across the street.
Dave Philpot’s wife says her husband should still be alive. The 74 y/o was walking his dog in Fells Point on Saturday afternoon when he was assaulted. His wife says a man who police have identified as Timothy Clinedinst asked him for money, and Dave said he didn’t have any.… pic.twitter.com/UG1oN4pROk
— Elizabeth Worthington (@ElizWorthNews) August 19, 2024
I said, ‘what happened?’ He said, ‘he asked me for money. I told him I didn’t have any. He asked me again. I told him I didn’t have anything. And he pushed me down into the curb’ and he fell, and he said, ‘I know I broke my hip.’ This is the worst part. He said the man took his legs by the ankles and bent his legs over his head. What kind of person does that?" she told WMAR-2 News. "And then he just walked across the street like nothing happened."
Dave was taken to the hospital. Mary Margaret was able to see and speak to him there. He was in a lot of pain.
“And in the ER, he had a cardiac arrest. They revived him, and took him to the ICU, and he didn’t make it through the night,” Mary Margaret said.
She says he has pulmonary hypertension.
"The last words that he said were, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. I'm gonna pass out," she recalled.
Police say the man in the video is 43 year-old Timothy Clinedist. It was originally treated as an aggravated assault case. But on Monday, the medical examiner ruled the cause of death to be homicide. Clinedist has since been charged with manslaughter.
Mary Margaret is relieved Clinedinst is off the street for the sake of her neighbors, but says it doesn't bring her husband back.
"I just want everyone to know this man did a horrible thing to a wonderful person."
A GoFundMe has been started by Route One Apparel, a retail partner of E.C. Pops, where Mary Margaret has been a long-time employee. She still works there part-time.
Haven City Church also shared this post on Facebook in Dave's honor. He started volunteering as a CDL driver for the church about a month ago.
