Punk Drunk Fight: Two guys on N. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota reported that they were in a fight with an unknown male. They explained to the police that the fight had begun as a verbal argument until the unknown man punched one of them in the face. The other man who called police jumped on the back of the unknown man and punched him several times, resulting in the unknown man having several cuts to his face and head. Both men were quite intoxicated, complete with poor balance and slurred speech, and police were unable to locate the unknown man.
Hanging Up: A man called from a Sarasota department store to report that a contract worker had stolen his cell phone. It seems the man set his phone down in the store's storage area, and then realized that the phone was no longer where he left it. When asked, the workers told him they did not know where the phone was, so the man began calling the phone. He followed the sound of ringing to the loading dock, and then to the passenger's side of a white Chevy truck. The driver said he did not know how the phone ended up there and suggested that perhaps a coworker had gone into the truck. Police arrived and questioned several men in the area. The driver admitted that the phone had been found in the truck but reasserted that he did not know how it got there. The coworkers said they did not see anyone else go out to the truck around the time of the incident. However, there was not enough evidence that the driver was the only one who went out to the lot, so the complainant was forced to drop the issue.
In the Heat of the Night: An Osprey office owner reported that someone stole the inside air conditioning components from the roof of the building. The outside of the A.C. unit was broken and all the inside components had been removed. The thieves also reportedly caused damage to the roof, which resulted in leaks. Damages are estimated to total $3,000 and there were no witnesses.
Mean Streets: A Florida Avenue church had a window broken. The reporting individual believed a burglar may have broken the window, but there was nothing missing. The officer suggested that perhaps someone had broken the window to gain access to a place to sleep. However, this was purely speculation. No prints could be taken because the glass was shattered and the paint on the door was not conducive to prints. There were no other signs of forced entry.
From the files of S.P.D.
