Longtime Daytona Beach Homeless Advocate Dies

Posted

Daytona Beach, FL - A well-known local homeless advocate is dead after a friend found him slumped over the steering wheel of his van.

The Daytona Beach Police Department says Michael Pastore - better known as "Pastor Mike" - was pronounced dead around 5:30 p.m. yesterday (August 27th) at Halifax Health Medical Center. His 64th birthday was last week.

According to the incident report, Pastore was living in a van parked behind a friend's home on Taylor Avenue when that friend found him unconscious and called 911 for help. She also stated that Pastore had been recently released from drug rehabilitation and that he had used heroin and methamphetamine in the past, per the report. The friend took Pastore from the driver seat, got him on the ground and performed CPR before paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital. The police incident report notes that Pastore was fully clothed and there were no signs of trauma on his body. The exact cause of death isn't known at this time. Pastore was arrested earlier this year for pepper-spraying a homeless man during a fight and for spray-painting a county building on Beach Street in 2016.