Longboat police seek help from residents on two cases

Longboat Key police hope residents can help them solve a pair of incidents, one in which a man was seriously hurt and the other in which a couple reported the theft of about $8,000 in jewelry from their home.

Police are looking into both cases and would like to hear from anyone on the Key who might have information to propel their investigation.

In the first incident, a bicyclist was seriously injured April 2 in a fall involving a pickup truck that drove from the scene.

Longboat Key Police Sgt. Robert Borque said a Nova Scotia man remains hospitalized after the 2 p.m. incident in the 4900 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive. 

Investigators are piecing together details.

Borque said the cyclist was riding south on GMD when he fell. One witness, who was on the opposite side of the street, said he saw a white pickup truck passing the cyclist. As the truck passed, the witness heard a thump and someone shout an expletive, then saw the victim lying on the ground.

Borque said the bicycle is damaged, but the witness did not see the truck hit the cyclist. Police are trying to determine if the truck struck the cyclist or if the cyclist fell first and the truck ran over the bicycle.

The witness could not provide a description of the driver.

Police are seeking any information on the white pickup truck, which continued to head south on GMD. Borque described it as an older, smaller-sized model, possibly from the mid-1990s. It might have damage on the passenger side, Borque said.

The cyclist was taken to Blake Medical Center where he remained in critical condition.

Police Chief Pete Cumming said officers have little information on the incident, which is why the department is reaching out for more potential witnesses.

This incident was the second involving a bicycle to leave a victim with severe injuries in 2017. The first took place in February, when an Indiana man was struck by a motorist while bicycling near the 2200 block of GMD.

Four days after the April bike incident, police were called to a Bogey Lane neighborhood to investigate a burglary.

According to the two victims’ report to police, a man knocked on the couple’s door and told them he was there to do survey work, which required him to check for property markers in the backyard. The residents accompanied the man to the backyard where the man “called his supervisor” and asked for a metal detector. The man then told the victims that he would need to retrieve the metal detector and left.

While the couple was in the backyard with the first man, it is thought that a second person entered the residence.

The victims did not realize anything had been taken from their home until late Thursday night. They called police early Friday morning to report missing more than $8,000 worth of jewelry.

Victims described the first man as a “well-groomed” Hispanic man, about 5-foot-8, weighing between 160 and 170 pounds. He was clean shaven with dark hair, and wearing a gray and green sweater vest. He was reported to be driving a newer model maroon pickup truck.

The other person was not seen by the victims. Cumming said officers canvassed the neighborhood on Friday and were told of a suspicious man in the area, but officers were not able to get a detailed description.

“We have some potential leads, and we’re following those up,” Cumming said

Similar incidents were reported in January in Nokomis in which burglars posed as landscapers.

Cumming said officers are encouraging residents to be careful about opening their doors when they’re not expecting visitors and to feel free to call police if they feel uneasy about who might be at the door.