Crowd brawls at Overlook Park

The tally for a Sunday night incident at Overlook Park breaksdown as follows:

• Four arrestees
• Three breach of peace charges
• Two simple assault charges
• One simple battery charge
• One resisting/obstructing a law enforcement officer charge

Although those involved in the brawl gave police differing accounts of what happened, parties agreed on what started the incident — talking trash.

According to a Longboat Key police report, from which names were redacted because many of those involved were minors, a male told police that he was riding a Jet Ski with a friend in New Pass when he noticed several boats anchored and that trash had been dumped in the surrounding water. He told police that he picked up the trash and yelled to the crowd about littering. The crowd responded by throwing rocks and shells at him, he said.

Some arrestees’ accounts differ on how the fight began. One female told police that she noticed a disturbance at the shore and that while she was there, someone threw a beer can at her. She admitted to chasing a female who called her an obscene name, however, she denied accusations that she punched a male; she says that he shoved her down.

One of the males identified as a victim in the report said that he began swimming toward his family at shore when approximately 10 to 15 males and several females began trying to provoke a fight. The sister of one of the males on a Jet Ski then called 911. She told police that a white female “yelled, ‘Who called the cops?’” punched her and continued to pursue her “even after she told her that she was a diabetic and a mother,” according to the report.

The victim’s sister said that two other white females chased her onto Gulf of Mexico Drive where she stopped a random motorist, got in his vehicle and told the stranger to drive away for her safety. She returned to the scene after police arrived.

Police told crowd members to sit down and ordered those identified as involved to get out of the water. However, two of those allegedly involved continued “yelling and using profanities and would not remain seated.” Police handcuffed the pair and led them to a patrol car. A third man also continued to yell and was taken to a second police car.

One victim’s father told police that he tried to help his son while he was being attacked but ended up being battered himself. Police found injuries consistent with the victims’ statements, including several cuts to the left side of his face. He told police he wants to prosecute at least one arrestee and would prosecute the unidentified males involved if he could confirm their identities.

The situation seemed to cool down after police arrived, but then things heated up again: One arrestee began demanding her release from the air-conditioned patrol car, saying that she was hot, sweating and having trouble breathing. Then, another female who wasn’t under arrest (yet) began demanding the other female’s release. She refused to leave the area after at least five warnings from police, according to the report, and slipped her hand through the partially open patrol car window. She was arrested and charged with resisting a law enforcement officer.

Park patrol
According to Longboat Key Police Chief Al Hogle, the summer months bring extra disturbances to both Overlook Park and Beer Can Island. Police will likely have saturation patrols in both areas this weekend and will increase their marine patrol.

Tit-for-tat(toos)
The crowd involved in the weekend fight at Overlook Park certainly was a colorful one. Here is a breakdown of the tattoos described in the police report:

Unknown — The number of tattoos on a male wearing black shorts who allegedly threw down another individual three times

2 — The number of gun tattoos on a white male who allegedly threw a punch at a victim

1 — The number of large marijuana plant tattoos on the back of a male in his early 20s who allegedly threw a “sucker punch”

1 — The number of “Tampa Tony” tattoos that same man had on his side

1 — “Possible tattoo of Lugo on abdomen” of a white male in his early 20s