Cops Corner: Sarasota

Feb. 27
HEARTLESS
9:31 a.m. — 1900 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Burglary — Structure. An employee at a community outreach organization said she received a delivery of numerous boxes of assorted Valentine’s Day candy. Because there was no room inside for the boxes, the woman stored the candy outside the front door of the building. After she left, an unknown person jumped the 6-foot aluminum fence that surrounds the building and took five boxes of candy.

SHIRT OFF HIS BACK
3:13 p.m. — 400 block of South Washington Boulevard. Petit Theft — Shoplifting. The manager of a clothing store said he was helping a shopper when he noticed a man entered the store and began browsing through some shirts. A few minutes later, the man walked out of the store and an alarm went off. The manager went outside and asked the man if he had stolen anything. The man said no, but then grabbed a white shirt from underneath the shirt he was wearing and threw it at the manager.

Feb. 28
FUELING RUMORS
8:02 a.m. — 600 block of Lafayette Court. Suspicion Vehicle. A complainant said a blue car was parked in front of a property — partially on the sidewalk — with its front doors open and its passenger door window down. The owner of the car resides at the property in question, and he arrived on the scene shortly after officers arrived. The man said his car had run out of gas.

DOG-GONE
1:18 p.m. — 600 block of North Washington Boulevard. Petit Theft — Shoplifting. The manager of a gas station said he observed a man removing a pair of pug sunglasses from a display rack, placing them in his shirt pocket and leaving the store after paying for a case of beer.

CUTTHROAT
3:45 p.m. — 2500 block of South Osprey Avenue. Fight. A man said he got in a physical dispute after he went to a job site to receive a paycheck. The man said he got in an argument with two brothers, and that one of them grabbed the man by his neck and held him against the wall before paying him. The brothers stated the man came to the job site and, after an argument began, pulled out a knife. One of the brothers said he grabbed the man by his neck and held him against the wall only after the knife was produced. He said he paid the man after things calmed down.

RUNNING ON FUMES
4:47 p.m. — 3400 block of Norwood Court. Suspicion General. A woman said her neighbor in a duplex parks his car in the shared driveway with the engine running, which causes exhaust to go into her house. The neighbor said he had just returned home and immediately shut the engine off, and that this is an ongoing dispute. The neighbor said he was in the process of moving because of the issue, and that he would park in the road to avoid any other problems.