Cops Corner

Nov. 22
No slap on the wrist
Noon — 1700 block of South Tamiami Trail. Battery. A teenage girl, who attends a technical school, told deputies that while she and a male classmate were at a hospital on a class assignment, he smacked her on the rear end. She said she was offended. This action follows three years of verbal abuse by the young man. She wanted to press charges, and the teenage boy was arrested for battery.

Nov. 24
Fault line
12:04 a.m. — South Tamiami Trail and Vamo Way. DUI. A woman from Charlotte County was clocked driving 68 mph in a 45 mph zone, and a deputy stopped her. The woman had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and had bloodshot eyes. She failed a sobriety test, and on her way to jail she told police, “It’s not my fault. I didn’t even want to drive to Sarasota.”

Nov. 29
Health-care crisis
8 p.m. — 1500 block of South East Avenue. Theft. A woman who had been living at a health-care facility at the above address was moved to the Tampa area to recover from a coma. She asked one of the workers at her previous facility to move several items to her new residence. The worker was supposed to deliver a large flat-screen TV, 20 rare coins from the 1700s and 1800s and a 1-carat diamond ring. That delivery was supposed to take place in June and has not yet occurred. The woman told police she wants to press charges.

Nov. 30
Squirreled away
1:05 p.m. — 3800 block of South Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Person. A department-store security guard noticed two women stashing items around the store, and he believed they were preparing to steal them. The guard approached the two women and told them that the police were about to arrive, and the women left.

Convenient collision
1:27 p.m. — South Tamiami Trail and Floyd Street. Traffic Accident. A woman driving south on U.S. 41 ran into the back of another vehicle that had stopped in heavy traffic. The woman said her foot slipped off the break. There was no need to call a tow truck, though, because the car she ran into was a tow truck.

Splashy shell
2:51 p.m. — 1 block of North Lemon Avenue. Suspicious Person. The complainant reported that two vagrants were taking a bath in the big shell fountain.

Dec. 1
Dirty dancing
12:39 a.m. — 5100 block of Ocean Boulevard. Battery. A man was dancing with a woman at a club. No problem there. The woman, however, had a boyfriend. Big problem. The boyfriend didn’t take too kindly to the dance session, and he punched the man in the mouth, knocking him to the ground. The boyfriend was arrested.