Cops Corner: Longboat Key

Oct. 2
Laid-back worker
1:02 p.m. — 600 block of Spanish Drive North. Suspicious Circumstance. A woman found a maintenance worker sleeping on a woman’s couch. The man said he checks on the house for the owner, but felt sick and lay for a few minutes. The owner confirmed the arrangement but asked police to trespass him.

Oct. 9
Making a mark
10:16 a.m. — Off the Key. Boat. Police noticed the day markers at the north end of Sister Keys were out of place and causing a hazard. They notified the Coast Guard.

Get a broom
5:56 p.m. — 500 block of Ketch Lane. Animal. An oppossum took shelter in a couple’s patio grill. Police used brooms to coax it out and into the bushes.

This one’s a head-scratcher
8:31 p.m. — 600 block of Longboat Club Road. Suspicious Circumstance. A man with a German accent was looking for his shirt and kept scratching his head with a piece of driftwood. He sternly said he didn’t drink when hotel guests offered him a beverage. He kept walking south on the beach toward where he said he lives. Guests thought he was odd and reported him to security.

Oct. 10
Out already
9:13 a.m. — 400 Firehouse Court. Fire. A dump truck’s wheel bearing overheated and caught on fire. The driver extinguished the fire.

Sleep it off
11:39 a.m. — 400 block of GMD. Suspicious Person. After several attempts to wake a man lying on a bench at a bus stop by yelling and shaking, police finally roused him. The man was homeless and had consumed several beers the night before. He said he had spent the last two nights on the beach and that he and his friends come out once a month to sleep on the beach and have a barbecue. Police told him about the town’s ordinance prohibiting camping and barbecuing.

Oct. 11
what’s your number?
10:42 a.m. — 600 block of Dream Island Road. Larceny. A woman’s kayak went missing from a storage rack sometime over the last two months. The woman didn’t have its hull number but said she’ll try to find it.

Driving range
5:11 p.m. — Intersection of GMD and Schooner Lane. Property Damage. A golf ball hit the windshield of a man’s vehicle as he drove on the street.

Oct. 12
Prescription in a pipe
3:03 a.m. — 100 block of Broadway. Trespassing. A man tried to hide what he admitted was a medical marijuana inhaler. Police told him medical marijuana is illegal in Florida and asked to see his Colorado-issued card. The man admitted he didn’t have one. Police confiscated the item.

Oct. 13
Calls for help
2:31 a.m. — Bradenton Beach. Assist Other Agency. A Bradenton Beach officer asked Longboat Key police to investigate a woman yelling for help because he was dealing with disorderly people at a bar and couldn’t take the call. Police couldn’t find anyone in distress.

Oct. 14
Brush Fire
9:05 p.m. — Jewfish Key. Brush Fire. A Jewfish resident ordered campers on the island to put out their campfire and leave the island. A short time later, a brush fire broke out.

One giant leap
12:38 a.m. — Longboat Pass Bridge. Suspicious Circumstance. A bridge tender heard a “thud” from his station on the bridge. He believes it might have been a fish that jumped 20 feet high and hit the building or a bird. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Strike out
11:41 p.m. — 400 block of GMD. Property Damage. A landscaper was blowing grass to the side of the road and kicked up a rock, unintentionally striking a van.

Oct. 15
Boogie board man
2:58 p.m. — 5100 block of GMD. Larceny From Motel. A property manager saw a man walk past her office, enter the maintenance room and walk out with a boogie board. Police found no sign of the man or the board.

Sad circumstances
12:17 p.m. — 3800 block of GMD. Public Service. A caller reported that a woman on the beach might need help. The woman said her mother had just died and she was sad. She had had a few drinks earlier in the day. The woman’s sober boyfriend convinced her to leave.

Operating hours
4:44 p.m. — 3000 block of Harbourside Drive. Disturbance. A man complained about large equipment on a golf course operating before 8 a.m. daily and on a Sunday. Police said they would pass along a copy of the town’s ordinance for construction hours to maintenance workers.