- September 5, 2026
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11:24 p.m., 7000 block Gulf of Mexico Drive
Vehicle stop: While on routine patrol, a Longboat Police officer pulled over a vehicle that had no tag lights, or at least he tried to. After coming to a stop briefly, the officer was preparing to exit his patrol car when the vehicle he stopped began to drive again. The officer followed it with the thought the driver may be repositioning it to a safer area. Instead, the car just kept driving, and then left Longboat Key jurisdiction. The officer radioed the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, according to the incident report, who sent a deputy to the home address on file of the registered owner of the vehicle. The deputy found the vehicle, but a knock on the door went unanswered. Meanwhile, the Longboat officer began an investigation on the vehicle using the license plate reader system and came to the hypothesis the driver of the vehicle worked at a north-end restaurant. The officer went to the restaurant and spoke to the manager, who confirmed the driver’s employment and that he would be there shortly. When the suspect arrived to work, he spoke to the police officer. He explained he pulled over, but when nobody approached his vehicle after he stopped, he believed he was free to go. The officer wrote in his report the suspect was outright and forthcoming and that “based on his demeanor, age and responses,” he was genuinely confused and thought the traffic stop was over. The officer decided not to arrest the suspect, gave him a ticket for his tag light, and closed the case.
8:28 p.m., 3700 block Gulf of Mexico Drive
Civil disturbance: A common call for service on Longboat Key is on people walking their dog on the beach, which is against town ordinance. This time, the dogwalker made the call. That’s because a condo owner, instead of calling the police on an improperly walked pup, barked at the dogwalker and told her she was not allowed to walk dogs on the beach. The dog-walking woman told police she was not even on the beach, but the sidewalk when the man began yelling and cursing at her. The woman then told the officer where the cursing man lived. The officer knocked on the door and told the man to call the police if he thinks the law is being broken to avoid confrontations among neighbors and calls to police on him. With no evidence of a crime found, police closed the case.
2:36 a.m., Gulfside Road
Suspicious vehicle: The sandman is a Germanic folktale that tells of a mysterious man who sprinkles sand in people’s eyes to help them fall asleep. Where does he get that sand? It could very well be off the Gulf if you ask two dozing beachgoers startled awake by police late at night. The two women parked at a beach access and walked out to the beach to watch a movie on their iPad hours earlier. The next thing they knew, they were talking to a police officer at 2:30 a.m. The officer went to the beach to investigate after he noticed their vehicle. He told the women the folktale of town ordinances and how sleeping on the beaches is not permitted overnight. The two were given a warning and sent on their way.
8:32 p.m., 7000 block Gulf of Mexico Drive
Vehicle stop: A police officer saw a BMW speeding on Gulf of Mexico Drive, confirmed by a radar gun and leading to a traffic stop. When the officer approached the vehicle, he smelled what he believed was alcohol and saw a clear glass bottle on the passenger side floorboard with liquid spilling from it. The officer asked for the bottle, and the 18-year-old gave it to him and said his friends were drinking in the vehicle, though he was the only occupant at the time of the traffic stop. The label identified the bottle as Smirnoff Ice, aka the “just-getting-into-drinking” beverage. The officer asked the driver if he would take a field sobriety test, and he refused. The driver denied drinking at all, and the officer was not able to detect any indications of impairment through his interaction with the teen, so could not charge him with a DUI, but he did establish probable cause to search the vehicle. The driver side back seat had a brown paper bag with, you guessed it, Smirnoff Ice. The officer issued the driver a ticket for possession of alcoholic beverages while underage, a ticket for speeding and a court date.
