He stole a pair of hedge clippers and hid inside an empty mobile home.

[madfloridian]

He brought on the wrath of the county Sheriff's Department, the SWAT team of the city police, and a hovering helicopter. Someone called it in as an emergency to 911.



DAVID MILLS/LEDGER PHOTOS
Polk County sheriff's deputies and Lakeland Police SWAT officers walk Old Dixie Highway following a standoff with an armed man who was barricaded in a mobile home at Tower Manor Mobile Home Park near Lakeland on Thursday. The suspect, 26-year-old Moises Torres, surrendered after a four-hour standoff in which tear gas was fired into the home.

Standoff ends peacefully

About noon Thursday, a 911 call brought deputies to a mobile home park off Saddle Creek Road between Lakeland and Auburndale, where a man had been seen stealing a pair of hedge clippers. The man, later identified as 26-year-old Moises Torres, ran into a home at the Tower Manor mobile home park, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said.

Torres lives in a home on Tower Manor Drive, but he ran into another home and wouldn't come out, Rodgers said. He was armed and had been drinking, she said.

No one else was inside the mobile home, Rodgers said.

It took tear gas emptied into the home, a hovering helicopter and about four hours of coaxing from law enforcement officers before Torres walked out the front door and surrendered, Rodgers said.

Torres was arrested and charged with grand theft, Rodgers said.

Helicopters? SWAT teams? Grand theft for a pair of hedge clippers?

:think: :think:

[SmokingJacket]

1. Thank goodness he didn't steal a weed whacker. nt

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Can you say "military state"....these stories get more

and more frequent. How long before we have a Kent State incident.....oh wait, we cant......all our NG are in Iraq.:sarcasm:

[madfloridian]

17. I saw the picture and groaned. Pic took up a lot of the local front page.

I almost thought I was reading satire or a parody, but then I woke up.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. Thethread title made me think of Karl Rove's last days as a free man.

Of course, I am sure the mobile home Karl flees to will be a nice double wide.

[durtee librul]

30. FEM A trailers came to my mind first....

[soothsayer]

4. he's lucky they didn't start a fire with their tear gas (like in Waco

and I'm willing to bet that's what happened last week when they were trying to get a burglar out of a liquor store in MD and burnt the whole shopping center down)

overkill

[eFriendly]

5. I just have to say that Florida LE agencies leave a lot to be desired. n/t

[madfloridian]

18. I would have to agree with you.

There is a lot here that concerns me.

[rodeodance]

6. the Swat team needed exercise and drill??

[Ian David]

7. It reminds me of that scene in The Blues Brothers.

Hut! Hut! Hut! Hut!


Put down the fucking hedge clippers!

[madfloridian]

11. Ha Ha....it sure does.

Those hedge clippers are very bad things.

Funny but so sad.

[Wickerman]

8. IF ya have SWAT teams and helicopters you have to use them

occassionally. He could'a put someone's eye and then that wouldn't have been so much fun, would have it?

[rodeodance]

10. you are right on (1st sentence)------Reminds me of Taser guns--all these

new toys have to be put to use

[madfloridian]

25. I am afraid you are right.

Toys to make them look powerful.

[rodeodance]

9. ....and about four hours of coaxing.......(tiem for him to sober up?)

[Ian David]

12. They could have just put the mobile home on a flatbed and drove him to jail. n/t

[KansDem]

13. Imagine if Bush did this in his "hunt" for Osama bin Laden...

He'd been captured, tried, and executed a looooong time ago!

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I believe grand theft in when an amount of $500 or more is involved.

And calling out the fucking Marines for this certainly cost the state more than $500.

[eFriendly]

15. I believe that grand theft is anything over $100 in Florida.

If you write a worthless check for $100 or more, they will charge you with grand theft. Anything under $100 is petty theft.

I wonder if the hedge clippers were made of gold or something...

[TheCowsCameHome]

16. Did he trim Brittney's hedge?

[PassingFair]

19. He gets what he deserves if he STEALS hedge clippers!

Sorry, I must be channeling other, more Orwellian DUer's I've
seen posting lately.

It's just a spell....

I think it's passing.....


:puke:


There....all better....

Hi Mad!

[madfloridian]

24. Well, I hope that spell is over...

:evilgrin:

[Lusted4]

20. MARCHING THROUGH A TESTOSTERONE HAZE SINGING "DO WA DIDDY"

Dreaming of happy hour and pranks at the crew-cut saloon.

[htuttle]

28. Snap, snap!

I like the turn of phrase.

[onethatcares]

21. Polk County Florida is not a place you want to mess with the police

there was one idiot that killed one of their and was shot 68 times. The sheriff stated the reason he was shot that many times was because the officers ran out of bullets.

[madfloridian]

22. I posted that here. People here at DU defended the police.

I think it was more like 128 bullets in that one body, though. Will have to look it up. One of their own was killed, but the entire SWAT teamed pumped bullets into that one man in a ditch in an orange grove.

There's a lot of bad stuff going on here.

[knight_of_the_star]

34. That is disturbing

One shot makes sense, three or four maybe if the suspect is still moving or you didn't hit what you needed to take them down, but 128 rounds into a guy? I'm surprised there was a body left after punishment like that.

[Edweird]

23. With some of them it's not about justice. It's about them exercising their power over you.

And making sure you know you are powerless. Some are just people trying to make a difference while making a living. But those guys don't make the news. Only the power mad assholes do.

[madfloridian]

26. There's a fine line.

I know some of the deputies and police...partly from a friend who is a captain and partly from teaching the children of many of them.

Most are just great and proud of their job. It is just recently that it seems like turnout is more like this for very minor things. I can't get a handle on it. It is like more and more there is an over reaction.

[walldude]

31. Cops are people too.. some good, some bad..

such is life. I'm with you on this weird "kill a rabbit with a bazooka" approach lately. I'm noticing an unusual amount of people siding with the cops too. I actually got into a debate about the lady in the wheelchair who got tasered to death. I just couldn't fathom a mind that would be able to justify killing someone who was basically chained down. I don't care how crazy she was, she didn't have a gun, if you were afraid of her, then climb the damn stairs!. We seem to live in a constant state of fear which leads to irrational behavior.

[Edweird]

33. I know some LEO's too.

I count among my friends a miami-dade officer, FHP, and Homeland Security. All the guys I know are just dudes doing a hard and un-appreciated job. There are obviously LEO's out there that were bullies in high school or something and never grew out of it. I mean, a guy with hedge clippers? Two patrol officers with a little charm (and maybe a little pepper spray) could've ended it quick and easy. But the jerks have to go and make it a national emergency. I don't get it. Justice doesn't seem to fit in the equation anymore. It's all about how many arrests you make.

[MazeRat7]

27. They live for that shit. Point in case...

We had a case here where they surrounded a house, blocked off an entire neighborhood on a work night for hours (nobody in or out), talked on the bull horn for at least 4 hours until well after midnight (pick up the phone and talk to us... turn on a light if you can hear us.. etc), and eventually "breached" the house only to find the "suspect" had left out the back door many many hours earlier. What makes it all that more "precious" was it was in a really nice neighborhood and they really screwed up the house (breaking windows lobbing in tear gas, broken down door, trashed lawn/beds, etc).

MZr7

[Gabi Hayes]

29. How many of you have a 911 system where, in order to get the police to respond to ANYthing,

you have to call 911?

I can't believe I'm the only one in that position: large suburb of Chicago.

there's no other way to get the cops involved. I've tried calling the other number, and they say one has to call 911 for anything other than having a car parked in the street overnight. yes, we have to get PERMISSION to do that, and that's only three times per month, so it's not like we live in the land of the Barbary Pirates.

[mitchum]

32. The ever more increasing militarization of the police...

Law enforcement against them (meaning us)