Longboat Key chief arrests driver in Cortez Bridge incident

Longboat Key’s interim police chief stopped a speeding driver on Cortez Bridge last week and took the 25-year-old man into custody when he emerged from his Mercedes sport utility vehicle yelling “shoot me, shoot me,’’ a police report on the incident says.

George Turner, on the job since April, 2021, was heading west on the bridge around 9:20 a.m., Feb. 3, when he spotted the SUV rapidly closing from behind, in heavy traffic and in the eastbound lane.

In a Longboat Key Police Department report, Turner wrote that he activated his unmarked vehicle’s emergency lights and siren and pulled into the eastbound lane to attempt a traffic stop of the SUV traveling about 65 mph. Turner reported the Mercedes SUV continued westbound in the eastbound lane, eventually coming to “an abrupt stop” in front of an eastbound vehicle.

The driver then approached Turner’s vehicle yelling “shoot me, shoot me’’ before he was ordered to the ground. 

Once a Bradenton Beach officer arrived, the driver said: “I’m not going anywhere until the president of the United States comes here,” according to the report. Turner reported the man eventually stood and was led to a police car while yelling “I can’t breathe.’’

Frederick Chinwuba of Bradenton was charged with reckless driving, aggressive careless driving and resisting arrest without violence.

Five members of Longboat Key police responded to the scene to assist with the investigation and interviewing witnesses, according to the police department report. 

Deputy Chief Frank Rubino, in his own report of the incident, wrote Chinwuba weighs between 350-380 pounds and was not cooperative in walking to the Bradenton Beach Police’s pickup truck at the scene. He reported it took four police officers and a firefighter to lift him into the back of the truck for transportation to the Bradenton Beach Police Department.

Medically cleared by Manatee County fire-rescue, he was taken to Manatee County Jail and released on $120 bond.

At 1:20 a.m. on Feb. 4, Chinwuba was again taken into custody on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, firefighter and EMT. A Manatee County Sheriff’s Office report said deputies encountered Chinwuba in a parking lot on Tallavast Road on a report of a naked man in the area.

Deputies arrived to find the man and attempted to talk with him when he began walking off. The man, according to the report, struck two deputies as they attempted to detain him.

He was again taken to Manatee County Jail.