Cops Corner: Sarasota

Nov. 9
Silver warning bells
5:45 p.m. — 1400 block of Main Street. Suspicious Circumstance. A bartender told police she found two silver-colored items in a Ziploc baggie and turned them over to police. She was fearful “it was one of those date rape drugs.” Police took the bag to the lab to be analyzed.

Nov. 10
A little too friendly
10:30 a.m. — 1500 block of First Street. Suspicious Person. A woman told police she dropped her son off at the bus station, and she watched as a male passenger put his arm around her son’s shoulders when he took a seat on the bus. Her son told her the man almost sat on top of him and kept following him when he changed seats.

What a pill
2:53 p.m. — 3800 block of South Tamiami Trail. Dispute. A pharmacist told police that two men and a woman caused a commotion at a pharmacy after their prescriptions were not filled. They demanded a corporate telephone number. Police were called after the woman stood outside the store and told the corporate office she was going to stop people from entering the store. She was gone prior to police arrival.

Road etiquette
5:07 p.m. — 800 block of South Palm Avenue. Dispute. A woman told police a man drove by and called her a derogatory name while he drove past. She believes the comment was made because she was going the speed limit and he wanted her to go faster.

Appearing act
9:15 p.m. — 1800 block of Morrill Street. Suspicious Circumstance. A man said someone placed a knife in his toolbox that didn’t belong to him. The knife was clean and appeared to be sitting in the toolbox for a long time. The man said he believes the same suspect placed a bowling ball in a cardboard box inside his closet. Police don’t believe he’s the victim of a crime.

Nov. 11
Late-night stroll
4:05 a.m. — Intersection of Ixora Avenue and Indian Beach Drive. Found Animal. Police found a golden retriever wandering the streets and couldn’t locate its owner.

High-pressure wash
2:40 p.m. — 3800 block of South Tamiami Trail. Dispute. A woman told police she took her car through a car wash and when it came out, there was paint visible on a piece of black plastic molding on the passenger door. Police determined someone painted the black plastic before the woman purchased the car. The car wash offered to repaint the trim.

Nov. 12
Keeping tabs
3:37 a.m. — 1900 block of Ringling Boulevard. Suspicious Circumstance. A man told police his friend might be missing. He explained that she left a pizza parlor to pay her bar tab she had forgotten about, and they hadn’t seen her since. She called and texted the man later to report she was OK and was spending the night at a hotel.

Oscar the Grouch?
1:12 p.m. — 900 block of North Washington Boulevard. Trespassing. A restaurant owner told police a tall man repeatedly trespasses on his property, roots through his dumpster and creates a mess.

Sidewalk artist
4:35 p.m. — 2900 block of Michigan Street. Suspicious Circumstance. Someone poured out two gallons of paint on Michigan Street. Someone forgot to tell the suspect the Chalk Festival was a couple of weeks ago — and that you’re only allowed to use chalk.

Odd behavior
5:07 p.m. — 1700 block of South Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Circumstance. A hospital public safety officer told police that a man entered the hospital and asked to visit the chapel. While walking to the chapel, hospital employees realized he wasn’t there to visit a patient and heard him mutter, “A lot of people are going to die tomorrow.” Police escorted the man off hospital grounds.

Bar none
11:30 p.m. — 2500 block of South Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Circumstance. A hotel bartender told police that when a man had entered the bar earlier, he was already drunk. The man left the bar with a $43 tab — and without his debit card. The joke was ultimately on the bartender, though, because the debit card was declined every time they tried to run it through the machine.

Nov. 13
Getting rattled
7:27 p.m. — 2000 block of Tenth Street. Disturbing the Peace. A man claimed his neighbor’s dog was barking nonstop, but the dogs were silent when police arrived. The man then banged on the fence to get the dogs barking again. The neighbor said if the man stopped rattling the fence to encourage them to bark, there wouldn’t be any problems with the dogs.