BRADENTON BEACH – Bradenton Beach Police officers Devon Straight and Tom Ferrara were at the Circle K near Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach when a concerned citizen came in and told them there was a man on the Bradenton Beach side of the Cortez Bridge screaming for help and running into traffic. The incident began around 7:35 p.m. on May 7.
“Myself and Officer Ferrara quickly responded and soon located the male standing in the middle of Cortez Road next to the Bradenton Beach Police station,” Straight said in a written report. “The male, later identified as Gregory Cawley, appeared wide-eyed and very anxious.”
Officers said that throughout the encounter, Cawley continued to reference people on the scene that weren’t there, including a group of people across the street that were watching the incident. No such group was present on the scene, leading officers to believe he was hallucinating and, due to his dilated pupils, they believed the incident was drug-related.
Straight’s report said Cawley was still fighting police and trying to break free even after EMS arrived and he was handcuffed to a stretcher. Once in the ambulance, he admitted to snorting and consuming crystal meth, although no drugs were found on him. Cawley was taken to HCA Blake Medical Center.
BRADENTON BEACH – Police officers Devon Straight and Charles “Chuck” Marose received recognition last week for saving a life.
During the March 16 city commission meeting, Police Chief John Cosby presented Straight and Marose with lifesaving medals.
“It’s my honor to come before you today,” Cosby told the commission. “We’ll be presenting Officer Devon Straight and Officer Chuck Marose with a lifesaving medal. On Feb. 17, at approximately 6:09 p.m., both officers responded to a 62-year-old male who was found lying on the sidewalk in the 1900 block of Gulf Drive. Once they arrived, some people that were there were already doing CPR. They took over the CPR and they used one of our AEDs (automated external defibrillator) to bring the gentleman back. He was transported to Blake and a few days later he was released and he went back to Georgia.”
Cosby then stressed the importance of providing officers with the training and equipment they need to do their jobs.
“I keep telling you: Training and equipment. This is a perfect example of it being used appropriately and it saved somebody’s life,” Cosby said.
Included in the meeting packet was a memo that Straight sent Cosby on Feb. 20.
Police Chief John Cosby presented Officer Devon Straight with his medal. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
In his written description of the events that transpired that evening, Straight noted “Officer Marose then took it upon himself to check on the patient’s condition later that same night and was advised the patient had been stabilized and should recover.”
Police Chief John Cosby presented Officer Charles Marose with his medal. – Joe Hendricks | Sun
Straight’s memo also included the following assessment: “I believe the quick implementation of CPR from bystanders and officers was critical to the patient’s survival before EMS could arrive, and the added benefit of having a readily available department-issued AED on-scene made our critical lifesaving efforts twice as effective.”
BRADENTON BEACH – Black smoke could be seen rising high into the air after a fire started on March 8 at 403 Gulf Drive S., Unit D in a four-unit condo building known as Birds Nest.
Bradenton Beach Police Officer Steve Masi and Lt. Lenard Diaz were the first to arrive on the scene after getting through the long line of spring break traffic.
“Since it was unknown whether the building’s units were occupied, as soon as I arrived, I exited my vehicle and ran towards it,” Masi said in a police report. “In passing, I saw the building’s owner, and Unit A resident, Mr. Bettona. I asked him if anyone was in his unit or any other and he said nobody was in his, but they were all rented, so possibly, yes.”
Masi ran up to Unit D, which he said he could clearly see was on fire from the outside and touched the door handle to see if it was hot. Since it was only warm, Masi entered the unit, which was filled with smoke, and said he could visibly see the fire coming from the right side of the condo. He announced himself and asked if anyone was in the unit, while lying on the floor to reduce smoke inhalation. After Masi cleared the unit, he went back down to assist with traffic and crowd control with other officers, since fire crews were on the scene at that point.
In a department report, West Manatee Fire Rescue (WMFR) firefighters note they could clearly see the smoke from the fire as they were crossing the Cortez Bridge into Bradenton Beach. Engine 121 was the first to arrive on the scene and noted heavy smoke and fire coming from the Unit D corner of the two-story-over-parking structure building. The E121 team assumed command and advised a firefighter to stretch a 200-foot line to the affected area while another officer from E121 conducted a 360 check of the building, finding one vehicle and no residents present.
Additional trucks arrived, including ladder engine 139 and trucks from Longboat Key and the City of Bradenton, who also assisted. WMFR’s report notes that fire attack did a good job of extinguishing the fire both interior and exterior and all searches came back negative. According to Fire Marshal Randy Kwiatkowski, the fire started on the exterior second-story balcony of Unit D, but the exact cause was undetermined.
Firefighters extinguish a fire in a second-floor condo at Birds Nest Apartments, 403 Gulf Drive S. in Bradenton Beach on March 8. – Lewis J. Unger | Submitted
“Our investigation could not determine the cause of the fire in part because the extent of damage to the area of origin compromised the integrity of the balcony, creating an unacceptable life safety risk to our investigators,” Kwiatkowski said. “I did call Bradenton Beach Building Official Steve Gilbert, who responded and condemned Unit D. There were no injuries to firefighters or residents. Also, one note of extreme importance is, at the time of the fire, there was one resident in Unit D in the shower who heard the sound of a smoke alarm. Because of the working smoke alarm, he escaped the fire unharmed. I cannot stress enough that working smoke alarms save lives.”
The fire marshal said the building is a four-unit, all-wood construction apartment building. Units B, C and D are licensed transient public lodging establishments/vacation rentals and all three were being rented at the time of the fire. Once the building was cleared of hot spots and the area was cleaned of debris, residents of the undamaged units were allowed to return.
“Without the extraordinary professionalism of West Manatee firefighters and our partnering agencies, this would no doubt have ended more tragically,” Kwiatkowski noted.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Thousands of students, many with their families, have flocked to AMI to escape the still-freezing temperatures farther north, trading quizzes and tests for beach volleyball and fun in the sun.
Due to different regions of the country having spring break on different weeks, the season here on the Island runs from the first week of March through the first week of April, making spring break more than a month long. Traffic will be heavy, parking will be limited, beaches will be busier than any other time of the year and wait times at restaurants will be longer, but there’s plenty of fun to be had if these things are factored in when making plans for a day on AMI.
“There is parking, even this time of year,” Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said. “Saturday, March 11, the Manatee Beach lot was full by 11:15 a.m., but at 3 p.m. there were still 52 clearly marked parking spots that were open. On Sunday, March 12, the beach lot was full by 10:30 a.m., but more than an hour later at 11:50 a.m., there were still 88 clearly marked parking spots near the beach.”
Tampa International Airport issued a statement saying March 11 and March 26 were the two peak travel days for passengers coming to the area for the spring break season. When local Island residents are asked what the busiest day of the year is, the answer is often March 15, as it is a metaphorical bullseye in the middle of spring break season.
“We’re with Lone Star Soccer Club out of Austin, Texas. We have a tournament in Bradenton this week, so we get to spend our spring break here,” said Shelby Hollywood, who is here with three of her friends. “The water is so clear, the beach is beautiful and the people are friendly; we’re having a great time.”
Unlike Miami, Panama City, Daytona Beach and even Siesta Key, AMI isn’t known as a chaotic “party” spring break destination. Many young people come with their families, and the Island doesn’t experience many of the problems those destinations see year after year. Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach see the highest concentrations of spring breakers on the Island, and neither of those police departments have reported any serious crime or violence so far this season. However, police in all three Island cities warn visitors to practice common sense. Lock car doors and keep valuables out of sight, walk in groups after dark, don’t leave valuables unattended while on the beach, and don’t have pets or drink alcohol on the beach. Alcohol is not permitted on any public beach on AMI, and this is strictly enforced, especially this time of year.
“We want everybody to have a great time, but we also want everyone to be respectful and responsible,” Tokajer said. “Just remember you are vacationing in a residential area.”
According to the Holmes Beach Police Department, which has license plate readers that count how many cars enter the city each day, the first week of March saw 214,740 cars, for an average of 30,677 per day. The first weekend of week two (March 11-12) there were 36,718 and 35,468 respectively, a significant increase, showing the crowds are growing as the season peaks.
BRADENTON BEACH – An unidentified 80-year-old man who strolled to the end of the Bradenton Beach Pier at the end of Bridge Street on Friday escaped injury due to the heroic efforts of two Anna Maria Oyster Bar (AMOB) employees.
On the afternoon of March 3, the man took a stroll down the pier with his wife. According to witnesses on the scene, he was leaning over the railing at the end of the pier where the water is the deepest when his glasses fell into the water. The man then made a quick decision to jump in the water to get them back, but was unable to get back up the pier and was in danger of drowning.
According to AMOB employees, when the man went in the water, his wife immediately called the restaurant first, instead of 911, because she knew someone could respond much more quickly, and that’s exactly what happened. As soon as the hostess got the call, employees Roo Tuttle and Frederick Brown ran to the end of the pier as fast as they could. Tuttle then jumped in the water to help the man, who could not get footing to climb back up to the pier.
“He was floating and holding on to part of the pier after he swam to where he could get some footing, but could not get to a ladder that was nearby,” Brown said. “Roo just jumped in the water and pushed up his feet to lift him up, and I grabbed his hands and pulled while she pushed. We got him out safely, and everybody was unhurt.”
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Marine Rescue Unit (MCSO) was the first to arrive on the scene, followed shortly after by Bradenton Beach police and EMS. The man told responders he was unhurt and did not require any EMS treatment. Brown said after the man dried off, he thanked them for being good Samaritans and got on his bike and rode away. Brown also said that the man being a bicycle enthusiast and physically fit probably made a big difference in his ability to be rescued.
A call from The Sun to MCSO confirmed they responded to the scene and the incident was listed as a near-drowning of an 80-year-old male, however, they did not record the man’s name. Bradenton Beach Police also had no report of the man’s name. The AMOB employees said they were more focused on his welfare than his identity, so nobody on the scene could confirm who the victim was.
In the end, the question everyone was asking was whether or not the man got his $700 glasses back.
He retrieved them and held on to them for the entire ordeal, and rode away on his bike wearing them. While this incident has a happy ending, Marine Rescue and Bradenton Beach police both warn that it’s not worth the danger of jumping off the pier if someone drops a cell phone or a pair of glasses. There won’t always be someone close to save a life.
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.
BRADENTON BEACH – Police officers face the unknown every day they put on their uniforms.
In 2022, nine police officers were killed in the line of duty in Florida, and while that number may not seem large in a highly populated state such as Florida, the threat of attack is always on the minds of these men and women as they go to work to protect and serve the community.
Bradenton Beach draws tourists from around the world, and may seem like paradise to many, but nevertheless, there are threats to officers who must train to handle these situations.
The Sun reported last year on an incident in which a man was on a jetty in Coquina Beach with a loaded firearm. Bradenton Beach officers arrived to find the man threatening to harm himself, but even though the officers believed he was not intending to harm them or the public, their job was to end the situation with the best outcome possible for all parties involved.
“I saw the way he was sitting with his right arm and hand between his legs, and I felt strongly he had a gun in that hand,” Officer John Tsakiri said. “I took out my binoculars to get a better look, but due to the way he was sitting, I still couldn’t see the gun. Lt. Diaz and I were walking towards the subject with our weapons drawn when we got a call on the radio from the MSO (Manatee County Sheriff’s Office) Marine Boat confirming he was holding a gun. The last thing we wanted was for anyone to get hurt, but after continuing to ignore our commands, and at one point starting to stand up, I told Lt. Diaz that if he pointed the gun at us, I would have no choice but to engage him with my firearm.”
This situation demonstrates that even in an area with a relatively low rate of violent crime, it only takes one incident to put officers in a situation where they must decide whether to draw their weapons and possibly have to shoot with innocent bystanders in the area, or deploy other tactics to de-escalate the situation.
DART system
The department now has a new tool that can help reach the best possible conclusion in multiple situations.
Thanks to help from the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge 2188, the Bradenton Beach Police Department (BBPD) can offer training to officers on any situation they may encounter without driving miles to a firearms training facility or gun range, thanks to their new DART training system.
“This is a top-end system for its price point right now,” Officer Steve Masi said. “In DART Creator and DART Studios, we can create anything we want. If I want a guy to come from 15 yards to two yards in three seconds, I can create it. I can place him in any room I want, I can create walls, and I can give him any behavior I want.”
According to both Masi and Lt. Lenard Diaz, department officers only get two to four training sessions at the gun range a year. When officers do go to the range, they only shoot stationary paper targets that offer little more than accuracy of the officer’s weapons. The DART system allows police to enact real-world situations and even film their own scenarios they can use to train the department.
“We could film a scenario where there is a situation on the beach, then upload it to this program,” Masi said. “We could project this on the side of a building and allow officers to move around and act as if it were a real life or death situation. There are endless training possibilities.”
Byron Dalton, administrator of the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge, takes part in training with the DART system at the Bradenton Beach Police Department. – Jason Schaffer | Sun
At a cost of $10,000, the department needed some help securing funds for this vital training tool, and they got it thanks to the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge 2188 in Bradenton Beach. Byron Dalton, administrator of the lodge, said the relationship with the BBPD has been in place for a long time, and they wanted to help in any way they could.
“Part of what we do with the police department is community service,” Dalton said. “We told them if there’s anything we can do to help make the department a better place, just let us know. At that time the lieutenant who is now the chief said we have the perfect thing we’d like to do, can you help us with it? We said, heck yeah and we got involved.”
The AMI Moose Lodge assisted in the purchase of the DART system with a $5,000 donation that covered about half the cost of the system. The remainder of the cost was paid by the department. Masi called it an incredible addition to the department’s resources.
“My number one goal is to go home after work,” Masi said. “Anything can happen in an instant, and how officers react to a serious threat may determine whether they go home alive; this is serious training for serious situations.”
BRADENTON BEACH – For the most part, Anna Maria Island is a pretty safe place to visit, according to local police statistics.
Violent crimes are low, and most serious crimes involving bodily harm involve people who know each other. The fact that it is fairly safe to take a stroll after dark without the fear of bodily harm is part of the draw of the Island; it doesn’t mean there is no crime. A recent series of auto break-ins prove that both locals and visitors must remain aware that even in paradise, opportunistic criminals will strike when visitors let their guard down.
On the evening of Jan. 17, the Bradenton Beach Police Department (BBPD) responded to multiple vehicle break-ins involving theft of property. It’s the time of year that these incidents tend to happen with more regularity.
In 2022, The Sun reported on multiple vehicle burglaries in both Coquina Beach and Cortez Beach. Most of the thefts were crimes of opportunity in which vehicle owners had left doors unlocked and had items such as iPads, cell phones and laptop computers stolen that were often left in plain sight on seats for thieves to easily identify and steal if there was an unlocked door.
Very few incidents involved the breaking of a window or damage to the car because of forced entry.
Recent thefts involved vehicles from 17th Street North to 10th Street South and Bradenton Beach police believe it was most likely the same person or group of people that were just looking for unlocked doors on parked cars. “No vehicles were broken into by force,” Bradenton Beach Police Lt. Lenard Diaz said. “We believe this was the work of people simply looking for unlocked doors and an easy grab. Since it all happened in the same night, it’s probably the same people in all of the incidents.”
Diaz said the best defense for this type of crime is simple; lock your doors. Crimes of opportunity such as going through a car with unlocked doors or stealing items from unattended beach chairs or tents is common, but preventable if precautions are taken. Smashing windows to break into a vehicle, or physical robbery, are much less common on the Island.
The best advice from police is to enjoy the Island, but occasionally those that show up don’t have the best intentions. Simply locking up valuables and being aware of the surroundings will prevent most incidents. Also, there are almost no cameras on the beach or in beach parking areas, so these kinds of crimes are very rarely solved. It’s up to beachgoers to make sure they aren’t leaving themselves vulnerable to crime.
BRADENTON BEACH – Anna Maria Island is big on tourism, but are they coming from space?
Probably not, but a Bradenton Beach police officer spotted a strange incident while on patrol at Coquina Beach on the morning of Nov. 5 that left him scratching his head with far more questions than answers.
“I saw a Coast Guard plane flying over the bay, then I watch them turn back toward the Gulf. I thought what the heck is that as I look up and saw a big black thing in the sky,” Bradenton Beach Police Officer Charles Morose said. “I’m estimating based on the size of the plane in the sky, it was at least the size of a car, or maybe a small aircraft.”
Morose said he thinks the Coast Guard plane must have seen the object because it changed course and came back toward the Gulf, appearing to follow the object. He says after the plane began to follow the object, which was almost stationary when he first observed it, its speed and trajectory changed rapidly.
“That thing had to be moving at least 500 mph,” Morose said. “It just shot off like a rocket toward the horizon and it was just gone. I’m no UFO conspiracy theorist, and I’m not saying it was from space or anything like that, but there was something in the sky and it was hauling butt.”
Morose said while he has no idea what was in the air over Coquina, he can say with certainty it was not a drone or an animal. Morose is in the area daily and knows how drones fly, and is well-versed in birds that live in the area. To him, it’s an interesting encounter with something strange, and will most likely remain a mystery.
The Sun reached out to the Cortez Coast Guard detachment, who forwarded the inquiry to their public relations department. After calls to multiple departments, we were told they would reach out if they had any information, claiming there was no incident reported in the area on the date and time reported by Morose.
The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau allocates resort tax funds to advertise Anna Maria Island in places such as Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom, but has no advertising campaigns on any planet beyond ours, leaving this an Island mystery.
If there are aliens coming to the Island, the best residents can hope for is that their superior intelligence has allowed them to figure out the biggest question of them all – where do we park our ship without getting a ticket?
BRADENTON BEACH – Despite multiple police departments, a helicopter and a K9 unit, a suspect remains at large after a high-speed pursuit on Oct. 15 ended with an SUV crashing into the Gulf of Mexico.
The encounter began as Holmes Beach police observed headlights driving on the beach around 2 a.m. and began to pursue the vehicle. Police believe the vehicle drove onto the beach in Anna Maria, but the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which patrols Anna Maria, was not yet involved in the chase.
According to a report filed by Bradenton Beach Police Officer Devon Straight, the Chevrolet SUV was driving on the beach at such a high rate of speed that Holmes Beach officers in pursuit lost sight of the vehicle. Straight was monitoring the radio, realizing the vehicle would soon enter into his jurisdiction.
“While on scene at Via Roma, I observed a pair of headlights on the beach quickly approaching. The truck then passed by me at a dangerously high rate of speed, at which time I made my way back to my patrol car and attempted to catch up to the vehicle,” Straight said in his report.
After activating his lights and siren, Straight pursued the SUV on Gulf Drive before entering the beach at the beach access in the 1300 block of Gulf Drive. Even though the vehicle could only continue down the beach or cross back over to Gulf Drive at some point, stopping the fleeing truck and arresting the driver would prove to be incredibly difficult.
“The truck appeared to be traveling approximately 100 mph down the beach, and it stayed at least 15 blocks ahead of me,” Straight said. “I then lost visual on the truck around the 300 block of Gulf Drive South, believing it had possibly gotten back on Gulf Drive or had blacked out their headlights.”
Straight then left the beach and got back on Gulf Drive heading southbound towards Coquina Beach, attempting to get a visual on the vehicle. After about 10 minutes of searching, witnesses that were fishing in the area said they saw the vehicle driving recklessly on Coquina Beach, according to the report.
Straight then returned to the beach in his patrol car and continued to Longboat Pass, following the tire tracks of the suspect vehicle, which he found located more than 15 feet off the beach partially submerged in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I notified dispatch of my location and called out perimeter positions for responding units,” Straight said. “I then held the vehicle at gunpoint until a Holmes Beach officer arrived and we confirmed the vehicle was unoccupied.”
A possible suspect was detained at the scene and released because police were unable to positively link him to the vehicle at the time.
The search for the driver of the SUV intensified as the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office assisted with a K9 unit and a helicopter. The K9 alerted to a man crossing over the Longboat Key Bridge into the town of Longboat Key.
The driver was described as a Hispanic male in a camouflage long-sleeved shirt. Witnesses fishing on the bridge said someone matching that description crossed the bridge on foot shortly after the crash, complaining of a back injury, confirming the escape route the K9 unit detected. The witnesses also had an answer for how the vehicle managed to end up so far out in the water, saying it hit the rock jetty at a high rate of speed, went airborne and landed in the water.
The vehicle was towed from the scene by Bullet Towing about three hours after landing in the water, at which point a full inventory search of the vehicle was conducted by police, who say multiple alcohol containers were found, along with personal belongings of the driver. Bradenton Beach police say that a man matching the name of the suspected driver called them to report the vehicle stolen in the following days. The suspect was told the vehicle had been involved in a crash, hoping he would come to the station to answer questions, but he didn’t, and further efforts to contact him have been unsuccessful.
The suspect vehicle’s path was back-tracked to look for any damage the rampage may have caused. Police found that a small wooden fence and hitching post by lifeguard stand #8 was obliterated in the sand with vehicle parts from the suspect vehicle scattered around it. Two signs that were posted on the Coquina Beach south jetty had also been run over. Police say it could have been much worse and were thankful nobody was taking a late-night walk on the beach when the incident occurred.
A hit-and-run crash report remains open as police continue to try to locate the suspect. Additional charges will most likely be added when and if he is captured. These could include attempting to elude police, statutes that ban driving vehicles on Florida beaches where it is not expressly permitted, leaving the scene of a crash and possibly more. Bradenton Beach police are not commenting at this time on exactly what charges will be filed if they make an arrest, but say it was a serious and dangerous incident that they are hopeful will result in an arrest.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 941- 778-6311.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – As more visitors come to Anna Maria Island, many are realizing that renting a golf cart-style low-speed vehicle can be a fun and effective way to get around. For residents and visitors alike, it’s important to remember that the same rules apply whether driving a car or an LSV.
When operating an LSV, the driver is required to be licensed, just like in a car or truck, and all passengers must wear a seatbelt. Young children also are required to be secured in an appropriate child seat for their age and size.
“We are enforcing seatbelt laws, monitoring the usage of the golf carts to make sure the driver is authorized to drive and we’re monitoring capacity,” Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said. “Children are supposed to be in car seats and all passengers need to be seatbelted. The same rules apply that would apply in a car.”
One of the biggest frustrations for Tokajer and other law enforcement officials on the Island is that some users may not realize the danger of not taking the proper safety precautions when driving or riding in one of the smaller vehicles. An LSV weighs significantly less than a motor vehicle, is much smaller and does not have the same safety equipment, including air bags, doors and windows.
“We’ve really tried to educate rather than just write tickets,” Bradenton Beach Police Lt. Lenard Diaz said. “We try to tell people that if you look in the rearview mirror and see you’re backing up traffic, pull over to the side safely and let traffic pass. The issue we’re having, though, is that people are not pulling over and stopping, but rather pulling into the bike lane and waving people around them. This is not only illegal, it’s dangerous for anyone using the bike lane.”
Diaz says pulling over and letting traffic pass if you can’t go a reasonable speed is not only the courteous thing to do but it’s also the law.
LSV drivers can be cited for impeding the flow of traffic if their vehicle doesn’t go at least close to the posted speed limit. On Anna Maria Island, all of the city of Anna Maria has a 25-mph posted speed limit. In Holmes Beach, the speed limit is also 25 mph with the exceptions of Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive where the speed limit is 35 mph. In Bradenton Beach, many city streets have a speed limit of 25 mph, though sections of Gulf Drive have a 35-mph speed limit.
Typically, low-speed vehicles travel at a top speed of 25 mph, though that speed can be affected by a number of circumstances including the size and type of the vehicle and the number of passengers. In Holmes Beach, golf carts – the unlicensed type that are built primarily for use on golf courses – are permitted to be driven on city streets by residents only. Any rental vehicle on the Island, despite looking like a golf cart, is required to be an LSV, which has a license plate and is registered with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles.
LSVs are not permitted to be driven across the Anna Maria Island Bridge on Manatee Avenue and down through the Palma Sola Causeway Beach area to the mainland due to an increase in the speed limit to 45 mph. Whether or not the vehicles are legally permitted to cross the Cortez Bridge leading from Bradenton Beach to the village of Cortez is still up for debate.
Diaz said his department does not patrol the bridge, so Bradenton Beach police will not stop an LSV from crossing in either direction. A representative from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, which patrols unincorporated Manatee County where Cortez is located, was unable to cite a local ordinance or state statute specifically stating whether or not the vehicles are allowed to cross that bridge.
“It’s important to remember though, that many of these rental agencies that rent out the carts have their own rules about where they can go,” Diaz said. “I think some of them don’t permit the carts to leave the Island. While the rental companies should make sure every renter is well-versed on all of the rules regarding the carts, in the end, as far as our department is concerned, the driver is responsible for their decisions and their knowledge of the laws and rules. They’ll get the ticket, not the rental company.”
Almost all the rental vehicles on the Island have GPS transmitters on them, so anyone violating the rules could suffer consequences such as having their rental contract terminated. Also, both Diaz and Tokajer agree that driving an LSV across the Cortez Bridge is dangerous because there is no shoulder and a collision could be deadly.
There have been multiple accidents involving LSVs on the Island, ranging from a near-fatal accident last year in Holmes Beach to more than one collision in Bradenton Beach in the past six months.
“Remember, when you come here, just live on island time. Take it easy, enjoy your surroundings and don’t rush,” Diaz said. “Do that, and you’ll get where you’re going safely.”
BRADENTON BEACH – Sea turtle nesting season is in full swing on the Island, and while some locals and visitors have been lucky enough to get a glimpse of newly-hatched babies heading from their nest to the Gulf of Mexico, it doesn’t always go as planned.
That was the case on Aug. 24 when someone reported they saw turtle hatchlings in the storm drain on Bridge Street.
Bradenton Beach Police Officer John Tsakiri arrived on the scene and knew they needed to act quickly to rescue the turtles.
West Manatee Fire Rescue opens the storm drain on Bridge Street to rescue seven newly-hatched sea turtles that had become disoriented. – Submitted
“They probably hatched the night before, got disoriented and came across Gulf Drive where they fell in the storm grate,” Tsakiri said. “Somebody saw them and told the manager of Island Time, who was looking for me, so I called the fire department and asked if they could come and open up these big metal grates. They came down, we got a big box, and lifted the two grates up where we got three (turtles) out of one drain and four out of the other one.”
The drains the turtles fell into were located in front of the Daiquiri Deck on one side of Bridge Street and in front of the Bridge Walk Hotel on the other side. Tsakiri says this isn’t the first time the turtles have lost their way and ended up on Bridge Street.
“We’ve already seen a bunch of them in the Circle K parking lot and on Bridge Street,” Tsakiri said. “None of those pipes lead out to the ocean, so they’re not crawling through the pipes, they have to be crossing the streets.”
While at least 30 people gathered to watch the rescue effort and take pictures, Tsakiri said that he and the fire department were the ones who picked up the turtles and placed them in the box. Both departments have dealt with lost turtles on many occasions, and have considerable experience in doing everything possible to get them to safety. The hatchling sea turtles were released into the Gulf of Mexico.
Newly-hatched sea turtles were rescued from a storm drain on Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach. – Submitted
Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring says there are many things people can do to minimize the chances of newly-hatched turtles being disoriented, but the three most important things are to keep the beach clean, dark and flat:
CLEAN: Keep the beach clean by picking up litter and removing tents, chairs and belongings at the end of the day. Sea turtles can get entangled in junk left on the beach.
DARK: Sea turtles nest in the dark. Lights disorient nesting sea turtles and distract hatchlings on their way to the ocean. Turn off flashlights, cell phone lights and porch lights. Hatchlings follow the natural light from the moon.
FLAT: A flat beach is a safe beach for nesting sea turtles, hatchlings and visitors as well. Fill in holes and knock down sandcastles before leaving the beach.
It’s not just turtles that find themselves needing rescue. Tsakiri said just a couple of days before the turtles became trapped, he found a seagull he thought had been killed.
“I picked it up on the street and it wasn’t moving, so I brought it to my patrol car and as I was walking it just came back to life,” Tsakiri said. “I took it up to Ed Straight’s place, Wildlife Inc., and he said it was doing really well. I think they’re going to let it go today.”
Tsakiri has also rescued a raccoon stuck in a car engine bay, a large lizard that somebody had as a pet and let go, and while admittedly not a fan of snakes, he recalled a time recently when he had to wrangle a pet boa constrictor someone released. It wound up in a woman’s laundry room on Bay Drive.
On Anna Maria Island, police officers’ jobs entail much more than just helping the public and fighting crime, they are often the first ones, and sometimes the only ones, available to save the wildlife that is part of what makes the Island such a unique place.
Anyone that comes across an animal in distress or observes a non-native species such as a constrictor snake should contact the local police department or wildlife experts such as Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Inc. at 941-778-6324. Do not attempt to assist wild animals without consulting a professional. Even animals that may appear docile or look like they are dead, may not be, and bites from many animals can carry diseases such as rabies, or even be venomous.
BRADENTON BEACH – While on his way to work on Aug. 22, Bradenton Beach Police Officer Steven Masi was sitting in traffic in Palmetto when a car cut across the road in front of him, smashing into the front of his Bradenton Beach Police patrol car.
Masi was not seriously injured, although both the driver and passenger side airbags deployed in the accident, Lt. Lenard Diaz said.
Masi was not at fault in the collision, which did significant damage to the front end of the Ford patrol car.
“There’s been a crash there the past three days in a row,” Diaz said. “It was near Haben Boulevard. People stop and let cars through onto Seventh Street; it’s a bad place for accidents.”
Diaz said the department is still waiting on an estimate, so they don’t yet have the details on how extensive the damage is. In the meantime, the department does have one reserve vehicle.
BRADENTON BEACH – It’s easy to get distracted by the beauty of the beaches and surrounding areas when visiting Anna Maria Island, but four vehicle break-ins on July 30 are a reminder that even paradise can have problems.
Two vehicles were broken into at Coquina Beach and two at Cortez Beach, according to reports filed by two Bradenton Beach police officers. The crimes all took place within an hour or two of each other.
According to a report filed by Officer Roy Joslin III, he was dispatched to a vehicle burglary on June 30 at 7:04 p.m. in the 1000 block of the Cortez Beach parking area. Two female adult victims said they had their purses stolen from their car after they parked and took a walk to the beach. They said they were only gone for about 15 minutes, but believed they had left the car unlocked with the purses in plain view in the back seat. There were no witnesses and no video footage available for the area.
At 8:18 p.m., shortly after Joslin was investigating the first break-in, Officer Devon Straight was dispatched to another vehicle burglary in the 2650 block of the Coquina Beach parking lot. When Straight arrived, he spoke to a female victim who said she left her vehicle around 5:30 p.m., returning at 8:15 p.m. to find her rear window broken out and her purse missing. The victim said the purse was in plain sight laying in the back seat. In his report, Straight said this burglary, the burglary investigated by Joslin and two others that happened during the same time frame were possibly related.
Straight found another vehicle with a broken rear window at Coquina Beach as he was completing his investigation of the first vehicle. He waited for the owners of the second vehicle to return, which they did about 15 minutes later. The owner reported a purse that had been located in the back seat was missing.
The fourth vehicle at the Cortez Beach parking lot had an iPad taken during a break-in that closely resembled the others during the same time frame.
The four burglaries were referred to a detective for further investigation. No suspects have been identified and the investigation remains open.
“It’s hard to catch these guys, they can easily gather around a vehicle and look like beachgoers,” Bradenton Beach Lt. Lenard Diaz said. “This happens every now and then on busy holiday weekends. They come from out of town and blend in. It doesn’t take long to bust out a window and grab a purse or an iPad.”
Diaz says the best deterrent is to always lock your doors and keep valuable items hidden out of sight. Leaving valuable items in plain view is an invitation to thieves. They want to get in and out fast, so if they don’t see anything valuable, they’re likely to move on to another vehicle.
ANNA MARIA ISLAND – For many, no proper Fourth of July celebration is complete without setting off fireworks. However, private displays of bombs bursting in air are illegal on the Island.
Though fireworks can be purchased in Florida, rules regarding their legal use are more complicated.
In April 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 140 into law. The bill allows people 18 and older to buy fireworks to use on three holidays: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Independence Day. The previous law required signing a waiver saying the fireworks were for specific agricultural reasons.
While the state law is clear, local cities and counties have their own rules that supersede what the state allows.
Each of the three cities on Anna Maria Island has a slightly different approach to how fireworks violations will be enforced, but setting off fireworks of any kind is forbidden anywhere on the Island, especially the beaches – fireworks can disturb nesting shorebirds, sea turtles and other Island wildlife.
The sound of fireworks can cause shorebirds such as this Black Skimmer to abandon their nests. – Submitted
Audubon Florida says the bursts of color and noise wreak havoc on coastal birds, especially nesting species. After each fireworks explosion, birds panic and fly from their nests, scattering the chicks and exposing them to predators and heat until their parents return.
It’s also sea turtle nesting season, and both adult and hatchling turtles can easily be disoriented by light, sometimes leading to their deaths.
Here is how officials in the three Island cities approach fireworks:
Anna Maria
The city of Anna Maria is patrolled by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. The department refers to Manatee County Ordinance 04-27, which covers fireworks rules and laws at length and also echoes other area laws that prohibit individuals from lighting any shell that flies in the air or explodes above the ground without a permit. A spokesman did not directly address whether the department recognizes the state bill that legalizes fireworks on July 4.
“Our response to fireworks enforcement has not changed. When deputies respond to complaints involving fireworks, their goal is to obtain voluntary compliance through education,” said Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Randy Warren.
Bradenton Beach
Bradenton Beach police will be enforcing a local ordinance that does not allow fireworks on the three state-designated holidays and will confiscate fireworks from anyone caught setting them off. It’s also possible to be issued a citation, even on July 4.
“The use of fireworks is illegal and they will be confiscated. Depending on
the severity of the amount someone possesses, they can also be fined,” Bradenton Beach Police Lt. Lenard Diaz said. “Nothing that projects up is allowed.”
Holmes Beach
Holmes Beach has a similar approach to enforcement of local laws regarding fireworks in the city. Police Chief Bill Tokajer said most private fireworks displays in the city are illegal and there will be consequences for violators.
“Exploding, launching and projectile fireworks are illegal,” Tokajer said. “We will be handling each report of fireworks depending on what the firework is and how it’s being handled. The fine is up to $500. Also, be sure to closely supervise children while using legal fireworks” such as sparklers.
Officials know some will choose to ignore the law and take their chances. Anyone choosing to do so is strongly encouraged to avoid densely populated areas and beaches.
After a hiatus due to COVID-19, the Sandbar Restaurant in Anna Maria has announced the return of Fourth of July weekend fireworks. The fireworks show begins at 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 2 at the Sandbar, and can be viewed free by the public. The VIP event at the restaurant is sold out. not changed. When deputies respond to complaints involving fireworks, their goal is to obtain voluntary compliance through education,” said Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Randy Warren.
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