Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - St. Petersburg Neighborhood: No More!

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

ST. PETERSBURG — The neighborhood calls them "boomers" or "thumpers."

As nightclubs close at 3 a.m., people flock in cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles around the Choice Food Store, 3401 Fifth Ave. S, thumping and booming loud music.

Neighbors estimate hundreds of people gather there on weekends and some weeknights. They hang out, flirt, shout and scream. The crowds spill out into surrounding streets and properties, leave trash and break out into fights, according to people in the neighborhood.

Police are called often — at least 150 times about crowds in the past year alone, according to police records.

A while back, the scene took a violent turn.

At 3:16 a.m., police said, shots rang out and a 31-year-old man was wounded in the shoulder. A police officer chased a fleeing Buick from the scene and shot two men after one of them pulled a gun, police said.

Neighbors say the late-night gatherings are a nuisance, and are getting out of control.

"I wish the police could do something," said a neighbor, who lives nearby. "It's getting really stupid."

Neighbors say vehicles fill the convenience store's parking lots and a vacant lot nearby. People spill into adjacent streets and onto the lots around a bail bond business and a pawnshop. They park behind vacant homes, of which there are many.

"It's like a big-a-- block party," said a local business owner, who owns Sunshine State Bail Bonds two doors down. "It's getting worse and worse — somebody got shot."

He's worried an errant bullet will fly into his business.

"Now that this has happened and it's pretty much in my front door, something needs to be done," the man said.

He added that police need to do a better job of crowd control.

Police have been called to the 24-hour Choice Food Store almost 250 times in the past year, according to police records, mostly for large crowds. They also have responded to reports of brawling and gunshots. The owner of Choice Food could not be reached for comment.

The early-morning shooting is not the first — or the worst.

In 2005, a 29-year-old was fatally shot in front of a glass shop at 3451 Fifth Ave. S., a few doors down from Choice Food. Police said several hundred people were hanging out about 2:30 a.m.

Neighbors said police frequently break up the crowds but it often takes complaints about noise before they do anything.

"They sit out there and watch them," said a neighbor. "It looks like there should be a carnival. It's outrageous. I don't understand why they can't stop it."

Another neighbor doesn't think the crowds are a problem. "To me, it's a lot of social gathering, but it isn't more. It's just something they do to hang out."

There's not much police can do to keep crowds from forming if no one is breaking the law, said a police spokesman.

"It's a hard thing to prevent from a law enforcement standpoint," he said. "There's not a lot of tools there for us to prevent issues."

Police typically ask the crowd to disperse only if there's a safety issue, he said.

Frequently police plan ahead if they know crowds will form, making their presence known and discouraging crowds from forming.

Several neighbors said police are usually parked when the group forms after the clubs close.

Yet they say that's not enough...

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a battery or a violent crime? Then contact the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - who polices the police?

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

A story that proves even the people assigned to uphold the law often break it...

PINELLAS PARK — A five-year veteran of the Pinellas Park Police Department has been arrested and charged with failing to turn in evidence, including a gun and drugs.

The Defendant, 29, of Seminole turned himself in to the Pinellas County Jail on Jan. 25 after being charged with official misconduct, a felony. He was released on his own recognizance.

The man worked for the Pinellas Park police from February 2006 until Oct. 14, when he resigned while under investigation. He was earning about $43,042 a year.

A Pinellas Park police Captain said the investigation began in early October when the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office began preparing a shoplifting/drug possession case for trial.

The captain described the situation this way:

The defendant had arrested the suspect and listed several items of evidence in his April 20 report that included a witness statement, a DVD surveillance video, a green pill believed to be Vicodin and a metal pill bottle. The state attorney needed to test the pill to make sure it was Vicodin. He asked the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which contracts with Pinellas Park to store evidence, for the pill and other materials. The Sheriff's Office said it did not have any evidence connected with the case.

The state attorney contacted the officer and, several days later, the Pinellas Park police. Officers questioned the man about the missing evidence and he told a supervisor that he did not remember the shoplifting incident from April, but would attempt to locate the evidence.

By Oct. 14, supervisors had checked several other of the officer's cases and found problems with evidence not being submitted. The man unexpectedly resigned that day.

Police supervisors have since audited police investigations assigned to him going back to July 2009, the captain said. They found that, in many of those cases, evidence collected by him and listed in the police report were not submitted to the sheriff for storage as required. Most of the evidence were DVDs from store surveillance cameras of theft-related crimes. Several cases involved narcotics including marijuana, crack and prescription pills.

Also missing was a .357 revolver he seized during a traffic stop in December 2009. The driver was charged with carrying a concealed firearm.

Pinellas Park police contacted him last November about the gun. The suspect said he still had the gun and turned it over to the police.

Have you or someone you love been arrested for a drug charge or a criminal offense? Then call the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys today for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.