Cops Corner 07.22.10

July 10
Bad reception
6 p.m. — 5100 block of Clark Road. Grand Theft. Two phones and $117 in cash disappeared from a cell-phone store overnight. The employee who reported the theft told deputies there were no signs of a break-in and that each employee has his own alarm code. Currently, though, there are no suspects. In another incident about two weeks earlier, some cash was stolen from the store’s safe.

July 11
Commandeered vehicle
7:50 p.m. — 900 block of Beach Road. Disturbance. An 87-year-old man in a wheelchair was listening to the music at the Siesta Key drum circle. A middle-aged woman approached him and demanded he abandon his wheelchair, so her mother could use it. He told her he needed the chair for mobility, and she became aggressive. The man called deputies, but the woman was gone by the time they arrived.

July 12
Karate kid
6:30 p.m. — 800 block of South Osprey Avenue. Suspicious Person. Officers responded to a report of a man with nunchucks and a butterfly knife at a condo pool. When they arrived, they saw a senior citizen practicing karate kicks in the pool. The weapons were on a side table. The man said he was a resident at the condo complex and that he had been practicing karate in the pool for 15 years. He said because he owns a fraction of the pool, he has the right to practice his black-belt skills there. The man also said practicing with a butterfly knife is a great remedy for arthritis. The officers asked him to keep the weapons out of view. The man asked if he could still practice his kicks, and the officer said he could.

Parental duties
10:52 a.m. — 1900 block of South Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Incident. A 5-year-old child was left alone in a running minivan while his parent ran into a store. The child was unharmed.

Purchase power
Noon — 4000 block of South Tamiami Trail. Fraudulent Use of Credit Card. A woman lost her wallet at a restaurant. She cancelled all of her credit cards as soon as she realized her wallet was gone, but apparently that wasn’t soon enough. The woman discovered that someone had taken one of the credit cards about two miles up the road to an electronics store and bought $1,455 worth of goods.

No good deed …
12:06 p.m. — 3700 block of Helene Street. Petit Theft. The victim met a man at a bar. The man asked for a ride home, and the victim obliged. But after the victim dropped off the man, he noticed that a bottle of prescribed oxycodone was missing from the armrest. The victim tried twice to report the incident the previous week, but could not explain himself well enough due to intoxication either from the medication or alcohol.

July 12
The final nail
6:28 p.m. — 900 block of John Ringling Causeway. Debris in Roadway. A large box of roofing nails spilled all over the westbound lanes of the causeway. Wile E. Coyote was nowhere to be seen.