COPS CORNER

Junkyard employee swings water heater at customer, is arrested for DUI

Also in Cops: Neighbor caught stealing lighter off of porch at 2 a.m.


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Sept. 12

Junkyard brawls

12:41 p.m. — 3600 block of Highway U.S. 1, Bunnell

DUI. A Bunnell junkyard employee has been arrested and charged with DUI after he used heavy machinery to toss a water heater in the direction of a customer.

The employee and the customer began to argue in the first place because the employee refused to help the customer unload materials from the bed of his truck. The customer told Sheriff's Office deputies that the employee tossed the water heater in his direction after the customer dropped a box of nails on the ground, according to an arrest report. 

When deputies went to speak to the employee, they found him slumped over the machine’s steering wheel, as if asleep. The deputies called out to him, and when he finally responded, the deputies noted they could smell alcohol coming from the man and that he swayed in place and had slurred speech.

The man admitted to having two beers during his lunch hour, at 12-1 p.m., but it was only 12:20 p.m. when deputies were speaking to him, the report said. The man refused to perform any DUI tests and was placed under arrest for operating heavy machinery while under the influence.

Sept. 12

Neighbor watch

2:25 a.m. — Sergeant Court, Palm Coast

Trespass, petit theft. A Palm Coast man was caught on a home security camera stealing a lighter from a neighbor’s back porch. 

The woman told Sheriff’s Office deputies that she recognized the man as someone who lived nearby and had repeatedly trespassed onto her property before, according to an arrest report. She showed the deputies camera footage of the suspect trespassing four times in the five days leading up to the most recent incident.

The man was previously trespassed from the woman’s home in July.

The most recent footage showed him stealing a lighter of the porch table before he left. The suspect was back at home when deputies rang his doorbell minutes later, and he was arrested for violating a trespass order, burglary and petit theft.

 

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