Cops Corner: Sarasota

Nov. 14
PUBLIC AGGRIVATION
5:51 p.m. — 1500 block of First Street. Dispute/Fight. A transit operator said he was in a verbal dispute with a man who was causing a scene on one of the buses. When the operator asked the man to leave, he refused. Instead, the man started to yell and took pictures of the operator. The man said he had had a few beers that day and just wanted to go home, and that he felt the operator disrespected him. The man was allowed to stay on the bus and go home.

Nov. 16
DIRTY DANCING
9:16 a.m. — 400 block of John Ringling Boulevard. Suspicion Person. A man was observed break dancing and behaving erratically. The man was also dancing with vulgar motion, “humping” cars, throwing himself against street signs and saying inappropriate things to children. Other officers advised the man had also been observed downtown.

Nov. 17
MEDIEVAL FEUDALISM
3:17 p.m. — 3000 block of Ringling Boulevard. Fight. A vendor at the medieval fair said he got into an altercation with his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, who also works at the medieval fair. The vendor said the ex-boyfriend yelled at him before grabbing and scratching him. The ex-boyfriend, who is the father of the woman’s child, said his daughter’s friend told him the vendor had been making disparaging comments about the ex-boyfriend in front of the daughter. The ex-boyfriend said the vendor was the aggressor, and that he shouldered the ex-boyfriend and grabbed him as well.

Nov. 18
SCOOT-FREE
12:17 a.m. — 1900 block of Main Street. Other Disorderly Conduct. A man called 911 to report the manager of a restaurant took his scooter keys from him. The manager told police she took his keys to prevent him from driving drunk. The man originally said he would take a taxi home, but became more uncooperative. He said he was being unfairly detained, and pointed his cell phone at officers and told them he was recording them. The officers told him he was free to go; he was just not allowed to drive his scooter drunk. The man threatened to call 911, was told that 911 was only for emergencies, and proceeded to call 911 twice anyway. His uncooperative behavior escalated, and he was placed under arrest. In his holding cell, the man urinated on the wall, stood on the bench and took his clothes off.