The Cop Column

January, 2005

Sgt. Rick Hord, Public Information Officer

Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office

 

Some Headlines You Didn’t See in 2004

 

            Most of the more than 160,000 incidents handled by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputies last year didn’t make the headlines. Here are a few that never graced the evening news, but they represent a sampling of real-life events in Okaloosa County last year:

Didn’t Know Her Own Strength. An employee of Starbuck’s Coffee at Destin Commons was taking out the trash, but over-shot the dumpster. The bag of trash sailed over the dumpster and landed on a marked Sheriff’s patrol car parked on the other side, smashing the car’s rear window. (Report #04-7391)

          You’re Both Ugly. Two 20-something women accused each of vandalizing the other’s car in the parking lot of a Destin nightclub two weeks before Thanksgiving.  One car had been keyed, the other had a bottle of booze poured all over the interior. It all started with an argument over who was prettier. (04-13352)

          Slow Learner. Jorge Baez was arrested on cocaine charges. He got out of jail for a few weeks while waiting to be sentenced. He took advantage of that break to sell more cocaine… to an undercover cop, again. (03-9689)

          Learning Empathy the Hard Way. A resident of the Wright area reported someone broke into his house and stole his TV, a pair of shoes, 100 empty CD cases, and two bottles of prescriptions. He wasn’t sure when it happened because he was in jail at the time for burglarizing his neighbor’s house. (04-11342)

          How Not to Avoid the Cops.  Deputies arrived at a Destin townhouse after neighbors reported a domestic disturbance. One of the parties involved in the disturbance avoided the cops by hiding in the attic... until he fell through the ceiling into a neighbor’s unit, which earned him a burglary charge. (04-13131)  

          An Eye for an Eye. A teenager, upset his mother wouldn’t illegally buy him alcoholic beverages, threw a frying pan of hot grease at her. He got arrested for aggravated assault… after getting out of the hospital. He hit only himself with the hot grease. (04-9394)

          That’s Why They Call it “Dope.”  A Niceville High School student told his resource officer he had grabbed a pair of jeans from the dirty clothes basket to dress in haste that morning, and didn’t discover the partially-smoked marijuana cigar in a pocket until he got to school. (04-2260)  Another student told the resource officer at Pryor Middle School he didn’t have time to finish the marijuana joint he was smoking while walking to school, so he snuffed it out and stuck it behind his ear. He forgot all about it until a teacher noticed it. (04-9693)

          Just Trying to Help. Deputies chose not to arrest a 12 year old girl accused of battery. She admitted pouring mouthwash onto the face of a friend who was trying to go to sleep, but said she didn’t intend to irritate the other girl’s eyes… she was simply tired of smelling her bad breath and was aiming for the mouth. (04-10831) 

 

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