FIRE PLUG STANDOFF: Things got hot around a fire hydrant in the Robles Park area, and it wasn't just the stifling July temperatures. On July 6, a "large crowd" was seen playing around a hydrant that had been opened by residents. Despite the idyllic "summer in the city" imagery of yesteryear this may evoke, opening a fire hydrant is against the law. The fire department was called, and an engine was sent to the scene, but when a firefighter went to stop the flow of water, he was "met by jeers and subjects throwing mud and rocks." The crowd got more and more hostile, and the firefighters retreated to safety, the engine sustaining a smashed window in the process. Tampa P.D. then mobilized about 15 officers, who moved into the area and dispersed the crowd "without incident," meaning there were no injuries or arrests.
BURNED: Sometimes the cops need a little bailing out from the fire department, as was the case on July 8, when the police discovered a serious conflagration at the Tampa Police Department Impound Lot on 34th Street. An "evidence control" officer on duty noticed that the "evidence control structure" was "engulfed in flames." The fire department responded to the scene and put out the fire, but not before "the building suffered major fire and water damage." The fire destroyed or damaged an "unknown number of evidence boxes," and the fire department was planning a full investigation into the cause of the fire. At the time of the initial report, arson was not suspected.
YOU THINK YOUR BOSS IS BAD? At 1 in the afternoon on July 4, a man entered the Oriental Bakery on N. Armenia Avenue in Tampa in search of the owner, who was also his boss and the owner of Hong Kong restaurant. An argument broke out. At some point during the yelling, the boss resorted to a dubious management strategy: He grabbed a knife and stabbed his employee three times in the chest. The boss then tried to prevent the bleeding worker from leaving the bakery, but witnesses called police, who arrived quickly and took control of the situation. Once on scene, the cops arrested the boss and got the employee to St. Joseph's Hospital for treatment of his non-life-threatening wounds. No word on whether the hospital bill will be covered by workers' comp.
From the files of the T.P.D.
This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2007.