ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL: At 5 p.m. one evening in October, officers on patrol in Tampa were flagged down by a concerned citizen who stated that two guys "were passed out in a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of westbound Adamo Drive E." The cops quickly located the vehicle, pulled up behind it and put on their emergency lights. Sure enough, upon approaching the car, the officers found two men passed out in the front seats. The cops reached into the car, put it in park (yes, somehow it was in drive!) and opened the doors on both sides. Per the report, they then "woke the occupants and asked them to step outside of the vehicle." Marijuana fell out of one passenger's pocket as he was getting out of the car, and he was arrested. That must have been some weed.
STUNNING: An officer was called to a parking lot at N. 15th Street and E. Eighth Avenue in Tampa in response to a report of a fight. Upon arrival, the officer observed two men "yelling and pushing each other." One man spit in the other's face, prompting the spittee to throw his cell phone at the spitter. The officer approached the men, identified himself as a cop "in a loud clear voice," and ordered them to stop fighting. In an effort to gain control of the situation, the officer moved between the two men and took out his stun gun, hoping the show of force might calm everyone down. One of the men complied, but the other man charged the officer, who deployed the stun gun, hitting the aggressor in the chest. The officer then yelled that both men were under arrest and instructed them to lie on the ground. The non-stunned man did as instructed, but the stunned man was defiant, pulling at the probes sticking out of his chest. The officer gave him another zap, ordering him not to pull out the probes. The man refused and the cop zapped him for a third time. It took the arrival of an additional two officers to get the man into custody. Afterwards, the defendant "had no complaint of injury or ill effect from the Taser." His exact quote, "That thing ain't shit!!! It didn't hurt!!"
BRIGHT IDEA: Talk about petty theft. A Tampa man reported that someone stole just the tops from the six "yard-lights (torches)" that run adjacent to his driveway. The man was quite sure that the tops were still attached when he left for work, and he has no idea who removed them.
From the files of the T.P.D.
This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2005.