Cops Corner

April 3
That’s gratitude for you
11:50 p.m. — 3800 block of South Tamiami Trail. Dispute. A man visiting his brother, who works at a North Sarasota gas station, saw a young man who often cleans up the station. The young man asked the man if he would give him a ride south. The man said he could only drive him as far as Bee Ridge Road, and the young man agreed. Shortly after they were on their way, the young man began smoking marijuana. The man told him that he could not do that in his car. The young man was agitated, but put out the joint. When they got near Bee Ridge Road, the man told the young man that was as far as he could drive him. The young man became angry, threatened to kill the man and his family and set his house on fire. He then grabbed some of the man’s letters and got out of the car. The man was concerned, because his address was on those letters.

April 5
Pillow fight
8:18 a.m. — 10 block of Gulfstream Avenue. Criminal Mischief. An apartment-building manager discovered that someone had thrown at least one pillow from the building. That alone would cause minimal damage. However, the pillow had become torn somewhere in the process, and its feathers got caught in the air-conditioning units and littered the area. The manager suspected one particular resident was involved. Police interviewed that woman, but she denied that she was responsible. An officer did note that the woman had removed all of the window panes from her door for an unknown reason.

Getting a read on the situation
Noon — 1200 block of South Tamiami Trail. Suspicious Incident. The manager of a specialty store told police that she often allows a woman to come to the store for book readings. The woman had failed to show up for several readings, so the manager warned her that she would no longer be allowed in the store. Upon missing another reading after being warned, the manager called the woman, who became angry. The woman screamed that she was going to destroy the business, and she hung up.

Pants on fire
4 p.m. — 4400 block of Emerald Ridge Drive. Suspicious Incident. The fire department responded to the report of a fire and discovered a backyard fire pit that was smoldering. A sheriff’s deputy began talking to a man inside the home, who said he had been sleeping and didn’t know there was a fire. He told the deputy he dug the hole last week, but the deputy noticed that it had been dug after it rained on the current day. The man said he did know about the fire and started it to burn some clothing, using alcohol as an accelerant. The deputy noticed at least three pairs of black pants in the hole, as well as an unidentified chunk of metal.

Cat-scratch fever
5:02 p.m. — 1300 block of First Street. Animal Problem. A caller reported seeing several cats alone inside a parked SUV with its windows rolled up. The vehicle’s owner was a self-proclaimed cat-lover. The license plate spelled out a sound that a cat makes.

Hot and cold
9 p.m. — 3400 block of Fox Run Road. Family Disturbance. A deputy was called to a house for a report of a battery. He was met at the door by a belligerent woman, who claimed that she’s been battered before, but the sheriff’s office doesn’t do anything about it. She then said she did not have any injuries. Her husband told the deputy that she had a head injury, and when she drinks it causes her to be neurotic. He said she’ll scream and yell one minute, then be calm the next. The woman then told her husband she wanted him to leave and never come back. A minute later she said she loved him and told him how wonderful he was. She told the deputy she had nine drinks at a bar earlier in the evening.