OPEN CONTAINER ROUND-UP: And now, the latest installment in a continuing series devoted to Bay area street drinkers and the officers who (easily) catch them.
IT'S ONLY NATURAL: After an informal, unscientific and unreliable study of police reports from Tampa, the reigning champion of the open container violation is still Natural Beer (in both Light and Ice varieties). More folks get busted with Natty than with any other alcohol. Just ask the man who exited his home on Third Avenue E. with a can of Natty Ice. As soon as he hit the pavement, the man noticed a Tampa police officer on patrol. The man quickly spun around and headed back into his home, but the retreat was not hasty enough. The officer made contact with and cited the man.
CRACK POLICE WORK: Sometimes, the cops barely have to work to make the arrest. An officer, "driving an undercover police vehicle and wearing a firearm, radio, handcuffs and badge on [his] belt, but no police jacket or vest" observed a man walking on North Boulevard, drinking — what else? — a Natty Ice. The cop circled around the block, and on a second, slow pass the man approached the cop. The man then made his second mistake of the evening, asking the officer what he was looking for. The cop responded, "20, hard" (street slang for $20 worth of crack). The man told the cop to pull over while he went to get the rocks. Upon returning, the man finally began to get suspicious when he noticed the cop's blue police light on the floor of the car. When asked, the quick-thinking officer said the light was "a vase"; the suspect wasn't buying it and walked off. Unfortunately for the man, the officer was able to follow and the man was taken into custody.
LEARNING CURVE: It's not always Natty, however. In the case of a woman busted for open container in a parking lot just north of Ybor City, the officer spied a 12-ounce bottle of Corona in the defendant's hand. Of course, the suspect still has plenty of time to learn about the Natty: When she presented ID, it turned out she was only 19 years old.
LIQUOR IS QUICKER: On occasion, the people nailed for open container favor the hard stuff. One man, also drinking behind his car in an Ybor parking lot (bad idea, people), got nailed with a red plastic cup containing an "alcoholic beverage, possibly Hennessy." Another man was caught walking around Ybor with a red plastic cup containing a "small amount of an unknown brand of whiskey." Upon being cited, the man complained, "it was fucked up that [the officer] was arresting him for that much alcohol that he could not even get drunk from." Amen, brother.
From The Files Of The T.P.D.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.