Cops Corner

July 6
Beach bash
11:30 p.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Battery. A man and his girlfriend were taking a romantic stroll on the beach late at night. They heard a commotion somewhere in the dark, and the man shined a spotlight in the direction where he heard some yelling. The light revealed three men, also walking on the beach. They yelled at the man to turn off the light, and he complied with their request. A few minutes later, two of the men crept up behind the flashlight bearer and punched him in the jaw; then they ran away.
The sucker-puncher must not have been too strong. The blow did not leave a mark, and the victim required no medical attention.

July 7
Major pain in the rear
Midnight — 200 block of Beach Road. Suspicious Incident. Complainant reported hearing a loud banging on his back door. He went to the sliding glass door and saw a man with a military-style haircut trying to open it. The homeowner asked the man what he was doing, and the man replied that he was looking for a friend. He even provided a name. The homeowner told him that the friend does not live there. The apparently intoxicated man stumbled off into the night.

Northern exposure
10:45 a.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Disturbance. A homeless woman was causing a commotion at the beach concession stand, soliciting beachgoers for food and beverages. Someone had also complained that the woman had exposed herself, but a deputy did not witness that. She was given a trespassing warning.

Forget me not
8:44 p.m. — 200 block of Beach Road. Impaired Person. A deputy responded to a report of a drunken man walking into the water. The deputy found the man wading in the surf, and he asked the man to get out of the water. The man stumbled to the sand and slurred his words. He was apparently so drunk that he forgot his last name. The deputy took him to a treatment center.

July 8
Fencing mishap
7 a.m. — 900 block of Ocean Boulevard. Criminal Mischief. A sheriff’s deputy reported damage to a county-owned fence near Treasure Boat Way. No one knows how the damage occurred, and there are no suspects.

July 9
Car-burglary spree
5:15 p.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Vehicle Burglary. An out-of-state visitor found his car burglarized in the public beach parking lot. The suspect used what appeared to be a screwdriver to break into the driver-side door. The man had left his wallet in the car, and his wife had left her purse in there. About $400 in cash was stolen, as well as credit cards and driver’s licenses. During the same time period, three other vehicles were burglarized in the same parking lot. The thief or thieves broke a window on one van to get inside, while other vehicles were left unlocked. Several items from all four burglaries were located eight miles away on Clark Road, east of Interstate 75.