HOLMES BEACH – A police investigation of an incident involving leaving the scene of an accident led to an unrelated arrest when a man allegedly burglarized the car involved in the investigation.
The Nov. 1 incident began at 5:18 p.m. as Holmes Beach Police Department Officer Alexander Hurt was dispatched to the Doctor’s Office restaurant in reference to a hit-and-run accident.
When Hurt arrived, he saw Officer Franklin Price speaking with a heavily intoxicated man in the parking lot. Hurt was advised that the man was a passenger in a vehicle that had struck a parked vehicle.
“Myself and Officer Price began speaking with the male to figure out where the other party had gone,” Hurt said in his official report. “I met with Matthew Jeronimo, who was the on-duty bar manager at the time of the incident. Jeronimo stated that he witnessed two heavily intoxicated subjects walk into the bar and request service. Jeronimo advised that due to their extremely intoxicated state, they were both refused service and asked to leave.”
Hurt said Jeronimo advised him that after a brief argument with the two men, they both left. He then saw them walk to a car and meet a female subject, later identified as Amelia Saavedra, 44, of Bradenton, who got into the driver’s seat of the car. Jeronimo said Saavedra then put the car in reverse and struck a pink Toyota parked next to her vehicle, before driving away south on Holmes Boulevard. Jeronimo said the vehicle that was struck belonged to an employee of the bar, and he quickly ran outside to get the plate number before calling police.
“While in the middle of our investigation, a female matching the description of the driver stumbled up to us and began yelling at the male we were speaking to,” Hurt said in his report. “The female was positively identified by Jeronimo as the driver of the vehicle. I placed Saavedra under arrest for leaving the scene of an accident and transported her to HBPD.”
Adkins was able to locate the suspect vehicle, a white Mazda CX-5, around the corner from the scene, where it had struck a raised boardwalk attached to a business. Saavedra claimed she never drove the vehicle and it was her boyfriend who had been driving. The two men were not charged in the incident.
Adkins waited with the white Mazda, parked in a space off Gulf Drive just west of Holmes Boulevard in front of Vinny’s Italian Kitchen, while the tow truck made its way to the scene.
“I was awaiting a tow truck to arrive for this vehicle so I was sitting about a car length and a half away on the side of Gulf Drive with my emergency lights activated,” Adkins said in his report. “I observed a white male with a neon orange shirt walk past my vehicle, past the Mazda, and then towards a pickup truck that was parked a couple spaces away. The male then turned around while also looking around and began walking towards the driver side of the Mazda.”
Adkins said it appeared the man saw the keys to the Mazda on the vehicle’s driver’s side roof, which had been placed there for the tow truck driver. He then went to the front passenger window, looked inside and opened the door. As the male subject reached into the vehicle, not noticing the police car only a few feet away, Adkins got out of his patrol vehicle and ordered the man, later identified as Adam Fleming, 34, of Bradenton, to get on the ground while pointing his taser at him. Fleming did not comply, and while he did put his hands above his head, he did not go to the ground as ordered. Adkins was able to get close enough to Fleming to take him to the ground and secure him in handcuffs.
“Fleming alleged he walked past my vehicle and was looking at utility markings that were painted on the ground and noticed the white SUV. He stated he then wanted his jacket and thought that the Mazda looked similar to the white Ford SUV he came to the area in earlier,” Adkins said in his report. “Due to this, he stated he then went into the vehicle to see if his jacket was there. It was clearly visible that the Mazda did not have any jacket in plain view in the area that he was entering. I asked Fleming if he was certain that the Mazda was the car he rode in earlier and he stated no, he was not certain. I asked him why he went into the Mazda if he didn’t know if the vehicle was the same one he rode in earlier and he listed reasons such as the incident was a mistake, an accident, and also alleged it happened because he was drunk. I however did not observe any obvious indicators of alcohol impairment.”
The owner of the Mazda, Saavedra, who was already under arrest, was asked if she wanted to press charges, to which she said yes. She also said she did not know Fleming and he had not ridden in the vehicle. Adkins placed Fleming under arrest for unarmed burglary to an unoccupied conveyance and for resisting an officer without violence. Fleming was taken to the Holmes Beach Police Department, then transported to Manatee County Jail. Saavedra pled not guilty and was released on $120 bond. Her court date is Dec. 5 in front of Judge Melissa Gould. Fleming was later released on $2,000 bond after pleading not guilty. He is due in court on Dec. 15 to face the charges in front of Judge Stephen Whyte.
