- April 17, 2024
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Feb. 20, 13494 block of W. Colonial Drive: Around 2:30 a.m., a Winter Garden police officer attempted to pull over a bicyclist he observed performing a traffic violation. When the officer activated his patrol vehicle's police lights, the bicyclist turned around and made eye contact but then continued traveling toward the McDonalds on Daniels Road and W. Colonial Drive. The officer exited his vehicle and ordered the bicyclist to come to him. However, the bicyclist did not comply, explaining he first had to throw away something real quick. The bicyclist, ignoring the police officer's commands, threw away what was later discovered to be a small baggy and knife. After he was done disposing of these items, he submitted to a search and sat down on a nearby curb. The search yielded a wrapper containing a small amount of cannabis in his wallet. He was arrested and charged with resisting an officer without violence and possession of cannabis under 20 grams. Once inside the police vehicle, the bicyclist accused the officer of being a racist and said his uncle was "El Chapo" and he would make sure to send his people after the arresting officer.
Feb. 26, 1751 block of Sparrow Song Lane: Around 3 a.m, the driver of a black 2011 Infiniti G37 traveling within a residential community on Sparrow Song Lane swerved off the road and caused an estimated $8,200 in property damage by colliding with three parked cars, a mailbox and a tree. The driver struck a blue 2015 Toyota Corolla, a white 2004 Toyota Sequoia and a 2002 Ford Ranger. The sound of the collision alerted a nearby resident who exited his home to investigate the commotion. The resident asked if the driver was OK. The driver responded he was drunk, but didn't a DUI and asked for gum. The driver then told other surrounding residents alerted by the noise, including the owners of the vehicles he had struck, that he had swerved off the road to avoid hitting a family of opossums crossing the road. A responding police officer, after determining how the crash happened from physical evidence and interviews, proceeded to conduct a DUI investigation. The driver's poor performance in the field sobriety exercises resulted in his arrest, and he was transported to a DUI testing facility. However, he refused to take a breath-alcohol test.
Feb. 6, 15992 block of W. Colonial Drive: About 30 minutes after midnight, two women cleaning up a trailer at the Lake Johns Motel discovered a cherry wood box containing knives, an unmarked bottle with an unknown liquid, and what they suspected was a PVC pipe bomb. Orange County's Bomb Squad, Explosive Ordinances Disposal Unit, Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Orange County Sheriff's office, several fire rescue trucks and the Central Florida Task Force responded to the scene and an evacuation was implemented. Orange County's investigation concluded the PVC pipe which the two witnesses described as having "clamps on the ends and a wick coming out the top" was, indeed, a bomb. The bomb squad then detonated it at 3:14 p.m. and all residents were permitted to return to their homes.
Once the scene was cleared, one of the female witnesses informed a police officer she was in contact with the prior resident of the trailer via Facebook messenger. When advised of the situation in his trailer, the prior resident said the bomb was a fake. When informed bomb squad had detonated it, he said, "Oh f___, are they going to give me trouble for this?" The prior resident added he was only messing around, and it was "not meant for anything." On Feb. 25, the prior resident was arrested for making and possessing a destructive device. During a subsequent police interrogation, the resident stated he gathered all the material to construct the bomb around his home and knew how to make it because it was common sense, and it was just physics and made sense. The prior resident was also asked why he hadn't disassembled it after he made it if he had no intention to use it, and why he left a destructive device inside his the trailer with his mother and father. He replied his father had died some years ago. He then abruptly ended the conversation, stating "I think I will stop now."
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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected]
