The
Cop Column
January,
2005
Sgt.
Rick Hord, Public Information Officer
Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office
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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