Cops Corner

Aug. 12
Who’s driving this car?
12:42 p.m. — 4000 block of GMD (Gulf of Mexico Drive). Property Damage. A man called to report that his car had been hit in a hardware store parking lot. A man he hires to do maintenance work, however, was driving the car when the accident occurred. Police said the maintenance worker would have to come in and explain what happened.

Aug. 13
Party’s over
12:22 a.m. — 400 block of GMD. Probation violation. Police noticed a woman walking down the bicycle lane and asked if she needed assistance. The Sarasota woman told police she had “partied” with a stranger earlier and that he would not give her a ride back to Sarasota. She asked police for a ride home, but was given a ride to the jail, instead, when a warrant check revealed she had violated her probation and had an extensive criminal history.

Clean getaway
4:42 p.m. — 4700 block of GMD. Missing Property. A woman reported that while she and her husband were at the beach, someone took a $30 pair of silver-and-black earrings from the bathroom counter. Management was trying to find out which members of the cleaning crew had entered the room while the couple was gone.

Did you hear that?
10:15 p.m. — 200 block of Sands Point Road. Suspicious Circumstance. A man reported hearing gunshots on Longboat Key. Police linked the gunshot noises to fireworks that had been set off in the area.

Aug. 14
Skating around the issue
3:26 p.m. — 500 block of Bay Isles Road. Juvenile Acts. Two subjects were issued written warnings for skateboarding at Town Hall.

Aug. 15
Alarming situation
1:16 p.m. — 600 block of Rountree Drive. Burglar Alarm. Police responded to an activated burglar alarm and noticed that the door was ajar. The owner was notified that a broken doorknob was the problem and said his son would take care of the door.

No assistance needed
2:53 p.m. — 3700 block of GMD. Boat Assistance. Police responded to a sailboat overturned in the water a quarter-mile offshore. The boaters were able to right the ship and sail back to shore unassisted.

Aug. 17
Credit card recovery
6:13 p.m. — 2100 block of GMD. Found Property. A Good Samaritan dropped off a Visa credit card and a gift card that he found lying in the southbound bicycle lane on Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Aug. 18
I’m tired of this
1:55 a.m. — 5100 block of GMD. Disturbance. The complainant told police that a man he had gotten into an argument with earlier in the day sent him a text message to tell him he was on his way to “do harm” to him. Upon arrival, the complainant showed police that someone had slashed the front tire of his pickup truck. Shortly after, the suspect pulled up, and police confiscated two military knives from his truck, although he denied slashing the complainant’s tire.

Slippery suspect
11:10 p.m. — 3600 block of Fair Oaks Place. Suspicious Person. A woman reported that a man wearing a beige shirt and blue jeans ducked under the inside gate of a condominium complex and was last seen walking east toward Corey’s Landing. The subject could not be located.

Aug. 19
Truck ruckus
12:55 a.m. — 800 block of Broadway. Public Intoxication. Police heard someone yelling from three blocks away and discovered a man sitting in the bed of his pickup truck with an 18-pack of Budweiser and a fifth of Early Times whiskey. The man told police he was yelling at his son and his son’s girlfriend, who took his keys and ran off. Police sided with the non-drunk members of the party and helped them get a taxi while the father sobered up in his truck.

It’s not worth it …
8:46 a.m. — 2900 block of GMD. Civil Disturbance. A man called to report that he was not paid for performing stucco construction work at a home. The homeowner told police he would only pay the man if he redid “the shoddy job” that had been done. When told to finish the work correctly and get paid or leave the Key, the man elected to leave the Key.

With friends like those …
10:32 a.m. — 600 block of Fox Street. Fraud. A man who lives in the Virgin Islands reported that his friend, “who has a crack problem and lives in downtown St. Thomas at the Salvation Army,” has access to his property to clean it and must have charged more than $500 worth of fraudulent charges on his credit card.