Cops Corner: Pelican Press

Aug. 25
A Wrong Turn?
10:28 p.m. — Beach Way Drive and Lake House Circle. Vehicle Crash. A Siesta Dunes resident reported seeing a red Silverado with Indiana tags veer off the road as it was leaving the Siesta Public Beach. Because the county ordinance calls for all beach parking lots to be closed at night, perhaps the driver was trying to make a fast getaway before he could be cited for overstaying his visit to the No. 1 beach in the country. Perhaps that one last look compromised his steering. No one was injured.

Aug. 26
No Repeat Customer
8:32 p.m. —5253 Ocean Blvd. Impaired Person. A security guard at Gilligan’s Island Bar and Grill reported a man stumbling and slurring his speech. Staff felt the man didn’t need any more alcoholic beverages and asked him to leave. While employees were escorting the man outside, he became combative and had to be forced to the ground. The man suffered an abrasion on his left cheek, but he didn’t need medical attention. When a deputy arrived, the man was still lying facedown on the ground. Because of his level of intoxication, he was unable to state his name or telephone number, and he couldn’t provide the name of anyone the deputy could call to come fetch him. The deputy was worried if he left the man alone, the man would harm himself or someone else, so the deputy took him to the jail. But just in case the man entertained a notion of heading back to Gilligan’s once he was released, the deputy also issued him a trespass warning.

Aug. 27
Don’t Use My Space, Man.
8:31 p.m. — 8630 Midnight Pass Road. Burglary. A man reported he and his wife had left their condo about 7 p.m. to go to dinner. When they returned, they found the front door to their unit had been forced open. It didn’t appear anything was missing, but the complainant wasn’t 100% sure. The complainant did tell the deputy that when he was taking a shower around 6:30 p.m., he heard someone knocking on his door. When he opened the door, he found a young Hispanic male. The man asked the complainant why he was in the man’s parking spot. The complainant responded that he most certainly had not pulled into the man’s parking spot. In fact, the complainant asserted, his wife was driving the couple’s vehicle, and since she wasn’t home yet, the complainant had no car downstairs. The man left. The deputy did confirm the condo door had been forced open, but he was unable to recover any fingerprints. The deputy also was unable to locate anyone matching the parking space man’s description.

Aug. 28
Those Costly Last Puffs
9:11 p.m. — 948 Beach Road. Grand Theft. While on patrol at the Drum Circle on Siesta Public Beach, a deputy was approached by a woman who reported her purse stolen. The deputy earlier had approached her and her boyfriend to advise them that smoking was not allowed on the beach. They moved to another location to finish their cigarettes. While they were gone, someone took the woman’s purse, which contained gold studs, Oxycodone pills in a prescription bottle, a wallet, the woman’s driver’s license, assorted makeup and a cell phone. The woman told the deputy she had seen a man with black shorts leaning over near her belongings while she was finishing up her cigarette, but she couldn’t offer a more detailed description.