OFF THE BEAT: The courthouse area is a bad place for a fight

A Volusia County sheriff’s deputy saw two men fighting on July 12 near the Volusia County Courthouse parking garage in DeLand. (Here’s a surprising fact: There are a lot of law-enforcement officers near a courthouse. This means that if you’re fighting, you’ll probably get arrested by one or more of those lawmen.)

Presumably because this is within DeLand city limits, a DeLand police officer was dispatched to the scene. The sheriff’s deputy told him that the two combatants ran from the site, and, as he ran, one of the two pulled out a black sock and threw it to the ground. When he pulled out the sock, a cellphone also fell.

The deputy said he took custody of Sock Thrower. (Sock Thrower is a 36-year-old little red-haired guy. No, he’s not a leprechaun. He didn’t have a pot of gold, but he did have something interesting in his sock.)

The deputy picked up the cellphone, but he left the black sock on the ground because a glass pipe was sticking out of it.

The DeLand police officer “examined the sock to find a glass pipe with a bulbous end, commonly used for smoking narcotics, filled with residue.” He also found a clear plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance.

The DeLand officer took custody of Sock Thrower and tested the white substance in the bag. Turned out to be meth.

While not a leprechaun, Sock Thrower did have a bit of good luck. “Due to personnel staffing issues,” he wasn’t taken to jail. Instead, the officer told Sock Thrower he’d be charged by affidavit and to be on the lookout for a subpoena in the mail.

The little red-haired guy walked away a free man, but he wouldn’t be smoking his magical pipe anytime soon — the pipe went to the DeLand Police Department Evidence Division at the end of the rainbow.

— By Keith Allen, based on local police-agency reports. If you have information about a crime, call Crime Stoppers, 1-888- 277-TIPS. You could be eligible for a reward.