Cops Corner: Sarasota

Sept. 26
HIDE AND SEEK
10:35 a.m. — 2500 block of Main Street. Suspicion Person. A complainant reported that a man was hiding in the bushes in the area of Main Street and Jefferson Avenue. The officer was unable to locate the man but did find evidence that a person had possibly been sleeping in the bushes.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP
5 p.m. — 2100 block of Ringling Boulevard. Criminal Mischief. An employee at a parking garage informed police that he discovered a damaged door vent. The damage was caused by a concrete parking bumper, which someone had apparently picked up and forced into one end of the door, damaging the vent. The door is attached to an electrical room at the garage. The man estimated the cost of the damage to be $100. There is no surveillance video at the garage, and the man could not suggest any possible suspects.

Sept. 27
MAKING A RACKET
3:15 p.m. — 3200 block of Ramblewood Drive South. Burglary — Structure. The maintenance manager and homeowners association president of a residential complex alerted police after an unknown subject broke into the complex’s clubhouse. The subject kicked in the door to the pool table room and played table tennis on the outside patio, damaging one of the door handles in the process. They also set off a fire extinguisher in the maintenance manager’s office. The maintenance manager said nothing was taken, but that there was a lot of damage and that his office was covered in residue from the fire extinguisher spray. The homeowners association president said he would notify police when video of the incident was available.

Sept. 29
GROWING PAINS
12:45 p.m. — 3200 block of Clark Drive. Suspicion Person. An unknown male entered a woman’s yard and attempted to gather some of the avocados she was growing on her property. The woman asked the man to leave, but some time later the man walked up to the woman’s window and stared at her for 10 to 15 seconds before leaving again. Officers were unable to locate the man and asked the woman to call again if he came back so he could be trespassed from the property.

HOT MAIL
4:30 — 500 block of North Jefferson Avenue. Suspicion General/Unknown. A woman said she saw two teenagers possibly using a lighter to light a fire inside of a mailbox at a neighboring address. The woman went inside because it started to rain and called police about what she witnessed. The teens had left the area by the time an officer arrived. The officer inspected the mailbox and found no damage to it or the mail inside, and the residents of the home were not present.