BRADENTON BEACH – With millions of dollars worth of boats and equipment onsite, the owners of the Bradenton Beach Marina employ an after-hours security guard to prevent property theft, damage, trespassing and illegal after-hours parking.
Violence isn’t a normal part of the job, but that changed on the evening of Feb. 20.
Bradenton Beach Police Officer Kyle Orms responded to the marina in reference to a possible battery. When Orms arrived, he made contact with the victim, Francisco Martinez, who said he had been punched in the head by a man who was still on the scene. Orms found the man, later identified as Desmin Shaw, walking back and forth around the marina property.
“I observed that Mr. Shaw had the strong odor of alcohol about his person and was stumbling and having a hard time keeping his balance,” Orms said in a police report.
Orms handcuffed Shaw and placed him in the back of his patrol vehicle while he continued to speak with Martinez. Since the officer noticed Shaw had several scrapes and bruises, he called EMS to the scene to check on his physical welfare. The man was determined to not need medical attention.
Martinez told Orms, who by this time had assistance from Holmes Beach police, that he was sitting in his car with his wife when the suspect came up to the car and screamed at him using profanities to get out of the vehicle. Martinez’s wife said Shaw raised his fist and attempted to punch her in the face, but she was able to shut her door before he could make contact. Shaw then went to the rear passenger door and jumped in the car, she said, at which point her husband got out and confronted the man. She told police that Shaw then got out of the car and punched Martinez in the face. Martinez used his pepper spray to end the assault, at which time Shaw ran to one of the boats, which he boarded before jumping in the water.
The police report that Martinez was in full security uniform, which carries the same additional penalties as assaulting a firefighter or EMS responder, a felony.
Shaw asked Orms if Martinez and his wife would be pressing charges.
“When he asked if they were pressing charges, I asked him why charges would need to be pressed,” Orms said in his report. “He then backtracked and said he was just assuming the situation.”
Shaw was arrested and charged with burglary for entering the vehicle, as well as battery. He was transferred to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office before being transported to the Manatee County Jail, where he was later released on a $4,000 bond.
