BRADENTON BEACH – An encounter between police and an intoxicated couple on May 29 turned into an hours-long struggle to diffuse a situation that put both the police and the public in danger.
Bradenton Beach officers Devon Officer Straight and Roy Officer Joslin were on routine foot patrol at 2:30 a.m. on Bridge Street when they heard a verbal disturbance coming from a male and female leaving the Drift In bar, according to the police report. The officers didn’t see the couple get in their car, but they heard the vehicle rev its engine repeatedly, then reverse at a high rate of speed, fishtailing without any lights.
Officer Straight said the vehicle almost hit a sign and posed a hazard to large groups of people gathered in the area, so he and Officer Joslin used their flashlights to signal the vehicle to stop and they checked on the welfare and condition of the driver.
Later identified as Steven Clayton Davis, of Bradenton, the driver became verbally abusive with the officers and showed signs of intoxication, including slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, according to the report. Davis put his car in park, but refused to open the door and get out of the vehicle after the officers asked him to do so. Officer Joslin opened the unlocked door from the outside and ordered Davis to exit the vehicle, which Davis refused to do. The officers began to extract Davis from the vehicle to prevent any danger to the public, officers and the suspect.
Once Davis was out of the vehicle, both officers attempted to detain him in handcuffs, which he resisted with force, according to the report. Once the officers secured him in handcuffs, he was taken to a patrol vehicle. While the officers attempted to put him in the back of the patrol car, Davis refused to sit in the back seat properly and leaned forward and dropped face first onto the pavement. While the officers attempted to get Davis off the ground, he yelled and threatened the officers, refusing to cooperate. He also managed to slip his handcuffed arms under his legs so the cuffs were on the front of his body. During the struggle with officers, who had no backup at the time, a Monkey Bus driver arrived on the scene and assisted officers in gaining control of the suspect, helping them get him into the back of the vehicle.
Once Davis was placed in the back of the patrol vehicle, officers say he used his handcuffed hands, which were still on the front side of his body, to try to break the window of the patrol car. The officers then opened the door again, warning Davis that he would be pepper sprayed if he didn’t calm down, according to the report. Not heeding the warning, Davis continued to try to leave the patrol car, resulting in officers pepper-spraying him and finally gaining some control of the tense situation.
Holmes Beach officers arrived on the scene to provide backup, since Officer Straight and Officer Joslin were the only officers on duty in Bradenton Beach. After Holmes Beach officers arrived, Officer Joslin was able to deal with the suspect’s female companion, Torrie Ann Kronk, who had been screaming threats and insults at the officers throughout the ordeal. Kronk was later arrested for obstruction for her role in the incident.
Officer Straight then took Davis to the police station for decontamination, standard procedure when anyone is pepper-sprayed by police, according to officers. Officer Straight used cool water from the hose in the police department parking lot until the suspect was satisfied he was decontaminated. Officer Joslin meanwhile completed arrest paperwork on Kronk.
Davis refused to sit on the bench in the police station quietly while he was processed. He threatened to kill the officers repeatedly while being processed, according to the report, and continued to resist arrest by trying to kick over a shelf containing valuable police equipment, resulting in the officers having to cuff his feet to the bench to prevent any damage during processing. Davis was charged with obstruction and disorderly intoxication in a public place causing a disturbance.
Due to injuries Davis sustained when he fell on his face trying to escape the police vehicle during the arrest, he was taken to the hospital before being transported to Manatee County Jail.
“The whole ordeal lasted from 2:30 a.m. to close to 7:30 a.m. because they struggled and there were injuries and were taken to the hospital,” Bradenton Beach Police Lt. Lenard Diaz said. “It should be a simple misdemeanor arrest, but because of the injuries and the fact there was a male and female and you have to keep two officers with the female, it takes our officers away from the road.”
During the process of arresting the suspects, which took about five hours, there were no Bradenton Beach officers available to take calls for other emergencies. The department continues to seek funding for more staff to prevent similar situations in the future.
