On a Saturday in May, at a little past noon, a DeLand police officer was dispatched to an apartment building in the city. A lady residing there asked the lawman to remove the lady’s daughter and the daughter’s husband, Harry, from her apartment.
The officer gave the couple a trespass warning, and told them to collect their possessions and leave. Daughter and Husband Harry became “agitated” with Daughter’s mother, and the lawman informed them they had two minutes to get their possessions together and get out. (Does the law set a two-minute limit?)
The two exited the apartment, leaving some of their belongings behind.
While the officer was filling out trespass warnings in his patrol car, dispatch called him and said Husband Harry had called 911 “and wants to get his belongings.” Husband Harry informed the officer “he wanted 15 minutes to get his belongings from the property.”
Officer told Husband Harry “since he made the decision to leave the property without getting the items that he clearly did not need more time.” (Well, who gave him only two minutes?)
Back in his patrol car completing the trespass forms, Officer heard from dispatch that Husband Harry had called 911 again and said, again, that he wanted his possessions. A sergeant told Officer over the phone that he’d be heading to the crime scene to speak with Husband Harry.
Officer drove his vehicle over to where Husband was standing, and found him once more on the phone with 911.
The sergeant told Officer over the phone to tell Husband “he was detained and could not leave the area.”
When Officer began walking toward Husband Harry, Husband Harry got on a bicycle and rode away. Officer told him that he “was detained and not free to leave.” Even so, Husband Harry kept on going.
More officers showed up “to create a perimeter” in which to find Husband Harry, but he was nowhere to be seen.
About four hours later, the same original Officer who trespassed the couple saw Husband Harry walking north along Woodland Boulevard. Officer radioed for more officers. Meanwhile, Husband Harry tried “to conceal himself behind the railing and bush of a business.”
Officer got out his taser and ordered Husband Harry to put his hands up, which the suspect did. Then he had him lie on the ground, and Officer handcuffed him.
While searching Husband Harry, Officer found in the guy’s pocket a green tobacco bag containing a green leafy substance, which tested presumptive positive for marijuana.
In another of Husband Harry’s pockets, Officer found a glass pipe with no residue in it. Husband Harry said “he suffers from several different mental health problems,” and had planned to smoke “ice” in the pipe because he didn’t have access to Adderall (which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). A police corporal on-scene said “ice” is methamphetamines.
Husband Harry was taken to jail, charged with misuse of 911, resisting an officer without violence, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, and possession of narcotic paraphernalia. Clearly, he was one dangerous outlaw.
— Based on local police-agency reports.
