Cops Corner: Longboat Key

May 22
Bent out of shape
6:32 p.m. — 7000 block of Bayside Drive. Property Damage. A man found the gate to his private dock pushed open and his “no trespassing” sign bent from an attempt to remove it. The man said he also saw people fishing on the public dock after hours. Police agreed to provide extra patrol.

May 24
Crack in the case
8:50 p.m. — Longboat Pass Bridge. Assist Other Agency. Police stopped a vehicle while helping sheriff’s deputies search for a known drug user. The driver and passenger said they dropped the drug user off after smoking marijuana with her and showed police a backpack they said belonged to the drug user or one of her friends. Inside the bag police found a crack pipe, marijuana pipe and copper scrubber used as paraphernalia.

For tobacco use only
8:55 p.m. — 100 block of GMD. Suspicious Person. A caller said a man wearing camouflage pants and a red shirt was smoking marijuana. The man said he rolls his own cigarettes and emptied his pockets for police. They found a cigarette pack with tobacco-rolled cigarettes.

May 25
No license, no problem
1:08 a.m. — 200 block of GMD. Suspicious Vehicle. Police saw three men milling around in a parking lot who then drove away quickly in two separate vehicles after seeing a patrol car. None of the men had Florida IDs, and two said they didn’t have licenses. Police gave the two drivers notices to appear in court.

Fight or bite
5:42 a.m. — 700 block of Broadway. Disturbance. Police encountered two soaking-wet men while investigating screams coming from a boat ramp. One man said the other man’s girlfriend had been fighting with him. The man had scratches on his arm and a bite mark on his back. A woman on the deck of the boat said that the man’s girlfriend also bit her when she tried to help. The man’s girlfriend asked police if she could get her shoes, then tried to hide two bags of marijuana in plain site, alongside a glass pipe. The man’s girlfriend was arrested for battery and possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.

Making waves
2:11 p.m. — Longboat Pass Bridge. Disturbance. A group of people told a man to slow down while he rode his Jet Ski near them, but he accelerated because he didn’t want to “bottom out” and pull sand into the motor. The man said one of the people tried to block him from leaving the area, then tried to flip his Jet Ski and “put his hands on me.” The man said the people in the water were wrong and under the influence of alcohol, but a witness said he was endangering the people nearby.

Maybe they were doubles?
11:04 p.m. — Gulf of Mexico Drive and Bay Isles Road. DUI. Police stopped a driver who wasn’t maintaining a single lane and was braking erratically. The driver told police he’d had three beers and appeared impaired and smelled like alcohol. He had a BAC of nearly two-and-a-half times the legal limit and was arrested for DUI.

May 26
He gets a pass
7:06 p.m. — 3700 block of GMD. Traffic. Police saw a driver pass two other vehicles in a no-passing zone. The man said he was frustrated by the slow-moving traffic and got a written warning.

May 27
Camera is rolling … off the roof
6:49 a.m. — 5000 block of GMD. Lost/Missing Property. A man put his camera on the roof of his car but didn’t realize he left it there until he was in Bradenton. Police canvassed the area but couldn’t find the fallen camera.

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