Cops Corner: Longboat Key

Oct. 18
Phone it in
3:32 p.m. — 1000 block of GMD. Property Found. A citizen brought in a “My Touch” cell phone that he found. The keyboard was locked, so police couldn’t find the owner or contact information.

In need of direction
7:37 a.m. — Buttonwood Drive and Longview Drive. Suspicious Person. Police responded to a reported suspicious vehicle driving through a neighborhood and spoke to two drivers parked in a cul-de-sac, who said they were at a home to begin installing its boatlift. One driver said that his GPS kept directing him the wrong way on the road, which was why they had been driving around the neighborhood.

Oct. 19
Don’t mess with manatees
12:25 p.m. — 6700 block of GMD. Animal/All Other-Nuisance. A group of people on board a boat were reportedly spraying fresh water on manatees. Police weren’t able to make contact with the people on the boat.

When you’ve gotta go ...
3:24 p.m. — 100 block of GMD. Code Enforcement. A man told police, “I’m sorry, I had to go bad,” and continued to urinate until he was finished after police saw him relieving himself on the ground. The man said that he drank a few beers while fishing at the park with his daughter and didn’t think it would be a problem to urinate in public because no one was around. Police issued the man a notice to appear for violating the town’s nudity ordinance. The man called a family member to give him and his daughter a ride home because he was admittedly too intoxicated to drive.

Neighborhood watch
8:51 p.m. — 5900 block of Emerald Harbor Drive. Suspicious Vehicle. A woman reported that she saw an unknown vehicle stop in the road in front of the home of her neighbor who had been the recent victim of a crime. The neighbor told police that she was fine and hadn’t noticed the vehicle.

Oct. 20
Intoxicating evening
5:32 a.m. — 700 block of Broadway. Missing Person. A man was reported missing by his parents after an early-morning swim with his cousin at a boat ramp after both had been drinking beer and rum. The man’s father called police six hours later to report that his son returned home. The man told police that he gotten intoxicated, walked up and down the beach for several hours, then passed out. He walked home after waking up on a bench at the beach.

Oct. 21
Nut job
6:56 p.m. — 6800 block of Pine St. Fire. Police responded to a report of an arcing power line and learned from firefighters that a squirrel had blown a transformer.

Oct. 22
Open-door policy
10:25 a.m. — 100 block of Broadway. Suspicious Circumstance. Police responded to a beach access for a vehicle that reportedly had its driver’s side door open and found the vehicle with its door still open and no signs of forced entry. Police closed and locked the door and left a note on the windshield about what had been found after they were unable to locate the vehicle’s owner.

Scratched car
1:16 p.m. — 2500 block of GMD. Vandalism. A woman discovered scratches on her rental car and told police that an unknown person probably keyed it either the night before or earlier that day.

Oct. 24
Bird rescue
7:12 a.m. — 3100 block of GMD. Animal Rescue. After finding an osprey sitting in the grass that wasn’t injured but appeared confused, police went to Save Our Seabirds and returned with a worker who came to the Key to rescue the bird.

Lost license
12:09 p.m. — Gulf of Mexico Drive and Dream Island Road. Property Found. A citizen turned in a Cleveland driver’s license. The owner retrieved the license at the police station after police notified the owner’s family.

Get a pass
8:34 p.m. — 4700 block of GMD. Suspicious Vehicle. A condo resident reported that a vehicle was parked in the complex that didn’t belong there. Police contacted the registered owner, who said that he has been doing work for the owners of a unit and staying at their unit during the week. Police advised the man to get a parking pass to show that he was permitted to park in the lot.

Flower plower
3:51 p.m. — 500 block of Golf Links Lane. Property Damage. A man reported that construction workers damaged approximately $500 worth of purple flowers in his yard. Police found a telephone company pole in the middle of his flowers and wrote that the company apparently dug up cables to begin service for a new piece of construction. Police couldn’t locate a site manager but suggested that the man contact the telephone company to report the damage.