- November 8, 2024
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A group of eight construction workers stopped and detained a suspected burglar Aug. 3 after witnesses saw him trying to break into an electrician’s work van in a Publix parking lot.
The call came in at the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office at about 12:30 a.m. from the parking lot of the Publix at 4950 Belle Terre Parkway, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
Deputies arrived to find that the workers had detained 24-year-old Palm Coast resident Jacob Atkinson, who was shirtless, shoeless, and giving conflicting statements about why he was in the Publix parking lot at such a late hour.
His nose was bloody, and deputies determined that he’d been injured playing pool at Scruffy’s, not while being stopped by he construction workers. He’d been kicked out of the bar about six times the night of Aug. 2, according to the news release.
Two witnesses told the deputies that they’d seen Atkinson trying to break into an electrician’s work van — owned by Bright Future Electric, of Ocoee — by pressing down the windows and door handles and trying to open the rear and side doors.
A group of about eight workers held him down until deputies arrived.
“While we don’t suggest people take matters into their own hands, especially using force, this was a good example of people being alert to their surroundings and notifying law enforcement that a suspect was trying to break into a vehicle,” Sheriff Jim Manfre said in the news release. “We need the community to help us help you.”
Atkinson told deputies that he may have confused the work van with his own.
Deputies charged him with attempted burglary of an auto, boat or conveyance and with loitering or prowling. They took him to the county jail, and he was released on $3,500 bail.
