One Bad Trip: The University of Tampa's campus security called police after encountering a 22-year-old man they believed to be on drugs. Two T.P.D. officers arrived on campus and found the man, who told the officers "he was 'tripping' on acid," which he had taken an hour or two before they showed up. Not exactly info I'd share with two cops, but this tripper was "passive and compliant," probably due to his drug-induced confusion. As the two officers began walking the suspect to their marked unit, the acidhead asked his new friends "if they were the police." The cops answered in the affirmative, at which point all hell broke loose. The suspect shoved one cop and "punched him on the chin," before being taken to the ground by both officers. While on the ground, the suspect managed to kick one of the officers several times before the other officer zapped him with the Taser. The battle wasn't over, however, as the suspect continued fighting as the cops slapped on the cuffs. The officers gained partial control of the suspect by utilizing the ominously titled "pain compliance," but the suspect continued to kick at the cops, necessitating the use of leg restraints. Rather than a trip down the path of enlightenment, this young experimenter journeyed to central booking.
Interesting Thefts: People will steal anything. While some items are inherently valuable (say, the 2004 Yamaha Waverunner lifted from a home on West Shore Boulevard in Tampa and later recovered a mile away during a traffic stop), others seem to be appealing only to highly specialized thieves. For instance, we have the crash and dash that went down on March 15, when an unknown number of suspects crashed a "possibly stolen" 1994 Dodge Ram pickup backwards through the front of Jersey City Sports Clothing, grabbed 200 jerseys ("all sports, all teams") and fled on foot. This crime is still under investigation. Then there's the man who broke the entry gate to Southeast Dairy on Columbus Drive in Tampa, drove his 1999 Ford Ranger pickup inside the fenced area and proceeded to load up on wooden pallets. I have no idea what the street value of a wooden pallet is, but witnesses spotted the would-be thief pretty quickly and police were able to nab the man before he distributed his ill-gotten gains amongst the wooden-pallet underground.
From the files of the T.P.D.
