COPS CORNER 3.13.17

WINTER GARDEN

March 11, 508 block of Varsity Street: Around 3:30 a.m., officers responded to a call in reference to a  35-year-old with a possible overdose. As officers and paramedics rushed inside the home, one officer noticed a man laying underneath a vehicle in the driveway with a tire wrench casually ignoring the situation. The officer found the situation odd and spoke with the man. The man stated he was changing his tires and had known the female inside the house for several months, but knew nothing of the overdose. He then stressed he needed to get back to changing the tires. The officer had dispatch check the man's records. It was discovered the man had an active warrant involving a homicide charge. Two present officers then proceeded in an attempt to handcuff the man. The man wrestled out of their grip and fled. The officer chased him and tasered him, twarting his escape. The man was given an additional charge of resisting arrest.

March 12, 14990 block of W. Colonial Drive: Around 4:20 a.m., officers responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle parked in front of a 7-Eleven and discovered a pickup truck with a man sleeping in the driver seat. Responding officers noticed the smell of alcoholic impurities emanating from the open driver’s side window and woke him up. The officers had trouble understanding him because his speech was slurred. The man said he was coming from Tildenville and claimed he fell asleep because he was diabetic. When repeatedly asked if he would be willing to perform field sobriety exercises, he aggressively insisted he would not, and that he was fine. He was then placed in handcuffs and asked to sit on a curb to wait for the Winter Garden Fire Department. While sitting on the curb, the man continually tried to spit on the police officer. The man was also uncooperative when officers attempted to place him inside the police car to transport him a to a DUI testing center. He refused to sit properly and spat all over the back seats. En route to the center, the arrestee stated, “I’ll kill you b____.” At the testing center, the arrestee refused to provide a breath sample.

OCOEE

March 8, 10500 block of W. Colonial Drive: Around 11:30 a.m., an officer was called to a Walmart store in reference to retail theft, and learned from an employee that a man and woman were observed selecting merchandise from the shelves and replacing the price tags with tags from lower priced items. The individuals then went out to self-checkout, paid for the items, and attempted to leave the store but were detained. The man and woman had only paid $74.96, even though the items were valued at $167. Both individuals were handcuffed and transported to Orange County Jail. However, once they arrived, the officer noticed the man moving around “in a very erratic manner.” The officer went to investigate and noticed an off-white substance on the floorboard, as well as a small plastic bag containing more of the substance. The woman started crying and  told the officer, “That’s not mine.” But the man then said, “That belongs to her, sir.” The officer then asked the man, "If it’s hers, why are you covered in it?” The man explained the woman had thrown the bag at him. The plastic bag – which will be checked for prints – contained 26.3 grams of meth.

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Contact Gabby Baquero at gbaquero@orangeobserver.com