Cops Corner: Pelican Press

The following information was gathered from incident and arrest reports obtained from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.

Feb. 13
Out of sight ...
8:30 p.m. — 2000 block of Siesta Drive. General Suspicion. A Sarasota Police Department officer met with a 57-year-old man who reported that his .380-caliber handgun was missing from his vehicle. The man said he kept the weapon in the car whenever he left home, because of recent burglaries in his neighborhood. It was in the center console of his vehicle, he said, when he left the vehicle with a valet at a restaurant. When he retrieved the car from a valet, after dinner, he saw the center console was open and the gun was gone. The officer talked with two valets at the restaurant; they said they had done nothing but park the vehicle. Later, the man called the officer to report that he had located the gun on a shelf in his garage.

Feb. 16
The ‘he said-she said’ bit
12:52 a.m. — 5100 block of Ocean Boulevard. Battery. A 24-year-old man was with friends at a Village nightclub when he spotted his 21-year-old ex-girlfriend at the bar with a 31-year-old female friend. When the man approached his ex-girlfriend, he said the other woman spit in his face then threw a drink at his chest. The ex-girlfriend and the other woman left after the incident. The man said he just wanted to talk to his ex-girlfriend, so he followed them outside and into a parking lot across the street. Then, the man and his ex-girlfriend began arguing. At that point, he said, the other woman slapped him on the left side of his face. When a deputy arrived, the woman denied having hit the man, but she did concede she had been involved in the argument. The ex-girlfriend told the deputy she had not seen her friend throw a drink on the man or hit him. When the deputy talked with the man a second time, he changed his story, saying the woman had slapped him on the right side of his face. The deputy noted the man did not appear to have any injuries, but the man’s shirt was wet. After the deputy was unable to find any witnesses, the man said he didn’t want to press charges.

Feb. 17
Easy pickings here
7 a.m. — 5800 block of Midnight Pass Road. Petit Theft. A 26-year-old woman called the Sheriff’s Office to report that someone had stolen her bicycle from her residence. It was valued at $100. She told a deputy she had not locked the bike.

Feb. 18
Compounding the problem
1:17 a.m. — Intersection of Higel Avenue and Roberts Point Road. Driving Under the Influence. A deputy saw a vehicle drive over the solid yellow lines several times as it was headed northbound on Higel Avenue. The driver pulled back into his lane each time, only to swerve off the right side of the road, the deputy reported. When the deputy stopped the vehicle, he reported the 35-year-old driver smelled of alcohol. The driver said he had had two or three beers. A second deputy then arrived to continue the investigation. The second deputy reported the man had difficulty performing the sobriety exercises. After the second deputy took the man to the jail, the man refused to submit to a breath test. When the deputy searched the man’s car, he found a small container in the center console; it contained marijuana, he noted.

Skipped a few details
11:41 p.m. — 400 block of Beach Road. Driving Under the Influence. While headed south on Beach Road, in a 30 mph zone, a deputy used radar to clock a northbound vehicle at 42 mph. After the deputy stopped the vehicle, he smelled the odor of alcohol coming from the driver. When the deputy asked where the driver had been, the 56-year-old man said he had dropped off a friend at a condominium complex on Midnight Pass Road. However, the deputy noticed fresh condensation on the vehicle, indicating that it had been sitting for some time before the man had driven it. The driver then admitted he had stayed for dinner at his friend’s condo and had had two beers and a glass of wine. Subsequently, the driver had difficulty performing sobriety exercises, including losing his balance while trying to walk a straight line, heel to toe. The driver refused to take a breath test after the deputy transported him to the jail. The deputy charged him with speeding as well as DUI.
 

Feb. 19
Really in the wrong place
12:49 a.m. — 7400 block of Midnight Pass. ??????. A deputy driving south on Beach Road saw a black SUV in front of him, moving at what he reported as a very low rate of speed. He saw it weave within its lane and drift across the centerline, then back across the line on the other side, into the bike lane. A second deputy saw both vehicles pass by him as he was parked on the south side of Beach Road. The first deputy then saw the driver hit the brakes twice in rapid succession and swerve to the right. After the second deputy pulled into traffic, he saw the SUV continuing to swerve into the bicycle lane. When the second deputy turned on his emergency lights, the driver did not respond, so the deputy turned on his siren. The SUV finally pulled off the road. When the second deputy walked up to the vehicle, he reported, the driver had an obvious odor of alcohol about her. The deputy spotted an empty bottle of beer on the back seat and another bottle in the seat-back holder of the front passenger seat. The bottles contained minute quantities of beer, he reported. When the deputy asked the woman if she knew why he had stopped her, she said, “Yes.” When he asked her why, he reported, “The driver looked at me blankly.” Then, when he asked her how much she had had to drink that night, he noted she continued to look at him blankly. The driver did tell the deputy she had an eating disorder, when he asked if she had any medical conditions. She added that she takes medication daily. After she had difficulty performing the sobriety exercises, the deputy asked her if she would take a breath test. She replied, “My father’s a lawyer.” At the jail, she did agree to take the breath test. She blew a .271, more than three times the legal limit of .08, the deputy reported. The driver also told the deputy she had lived in Florida since October. However, her vehicle still was registered in Michigan. Therefore, the deputy charged her for not having obtained a Florida license plate.