PPPD officer arrested and tazed in alleged drunken brawl

tampabay.com
Cop arrested after brawl outside bar

By Anne Lindberg, Times Staff Writer

Published Sunday, January 18, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG — Police officers arrested a seven-year veteran of the Pinellas Park Police Department and his sister Sunday after a brawl in a bar parking lot.

Sean Christopher Letona, 30, of St. Petersburg was arrested and charged with misdemeanor simple battery. Letona has worked for the Pinellas Park Police Department since October 2001. He earns $44,900 a year.

Also arrested and charged with disorderly intoxication, a misdemeanor, was Alma Charice Letona, 25, also of St. Petersburg. Both Letonas were released on their own recognizance.

The incident began around 1 a.m. when Pinellas Park police Sgt. William Lowe received a message to call the St. Petersburg Police Department. When he did, St. Petersburg officers told him they had arrested Letona at a bar near Beach Drive SE and First Avenue S.

They said a brawl had begun inside the bar but the bouncers were able to move those involved into the parking lot. An off-duty St. Petersburg police officer was working a detail less than a block away and came when he heard the commotion in the parking lot. He was eventually joined by a second St. Petersburg police officer.

When the officers arrived at the bar, the fighting was over and several people had left the scene. As an officer told the remaining folks to leave, a man — later identified as Letona — "came out of nowhere," grabbed one of the bar patrons and began punching him. They fell to the ground, and Letona continued punching the other man despite police orders to stop.

"The officer deployed his Taser and that is when Officer Letona complied," Lowe wrote in his report. It was unclear which St. Petersburg officer used the Taser.

"While they were attempting to handcuff him, Officer Letona's sister tried to pull the officer away and continued to interfere. She was also arrested," according to the report.

St. Petersburg officers searched Letona and they found an ankle holster with a small-caliber handgun, his police badge and identification.

A St. Petersburg police sergeant called Pinellas Park, told Lowe what happened and that Letona was "extremely intoxicated." The sergeant asked if Lowe wanted to come pick up Letona or allow him to be arrested. Lowe said he would have to check with his superiors.

Capt. Mike Haworth, second in command at the Pinellas Park Police Department, told Lowe to "have the St. Petersburg police process (Letona) as they saw fit."

Lowe called St. Petersburg to say they could do what they "felt was warranted in this incident." After the St. Petersburg officer talked with his superiors, Letona was taken to jail.

Information on what started the bar brawl was unavailable Sunday.

You can't tell me that the bigwigs didn't know about Sean's alcohol problem as well as his temper. He is a golden boy, so it has been swept under the rug. SPPD forced us to deal with the problem when they arrested Sean. And it sounds like this isn't his first incident in St Pete. Let the chips fall where they may, but let the punishment be consistent and fit the crime.

If he wasn't a police officer, what would we expect to happen to him? Why should the outcome be any different? An alcohol problem is one thing. That can be dealt with by counseling, etc. But the criminal charge is a whole different matter. It would be hard to enforce the laws of the state if you are going to violate them as has been done in this case.

The thin blue line is one thing. I believe in giving a break to a brother. But it appears as if Sean feels he is entitled to these breaks whenever it serves him. Maybe it's because he's been given numerous breaks around our hallowed halls, and he feels untouchable. Who knows? To break the law (which is bad enough, and in front of officers to boot!) then immediately tell them you are a cop when being arrested is wrong. And to try to use your brother's (who was an SPPD officer) name in an attempt to walk is pathetic.

Maybe it's time he looked for employment elsewhere, and not in this career field. But whatever happens, let's hope he gets some help for his problems.

Maybe everyone here should look at themselves too. Are we the best that we can be? Are we respectful of ourselves and our coworkers? Do we try to help when we see someone struggling? It's easy to sit around and pass judgement, and what he did was wrong, but did anyone here try to help when they saw he had a problem? Are any other of our coworkers struggling with something that we might step up and offer support to them? All of us have a responsabilty to the agency we work for, from admin right on down to support staff. Maybe the first step would be to treat each other better, be more supportive, and care about making the foundation strong.

If he wasn't a police officer, what would we expect to happen to him? Why should the outcome be any different? An alcohol problem is one thing. That can be dealt with by counseling, etc. But the criminal charge is a whole different matter. It would be hard to enforce the laws of the state if you are going to violate them as has been done in this case.

The thin blue line is one thing. I believe in giving a break to a brother. But it appears as if Sean feels he is entitled to these breaks whenever it serves him. Maybe it's because he's been given numerous breaks around our hallowed halls, and he feels untouchable. Who knows? To break the law (which is bad enough, and in front of officers to boot!) then immediately tell them you are a cop when being arrested is wrong. And to try to use your brother's (who was an SPPD officer) name in an attempt to walk is pathetic.

Maybe it's time he looked for employment elsewhere, and not in this career field. But whatever happens, let's hope he gets some help for his problems.

because he has had so many breaks, he's untouchable

People normally offer help to others when they want to help someone. If someone gives you no reason to want to help them - which is likely the case here - then that person makes his own bed and then gets to deal with it alone.

Granted, this board becomes a slam fest sometimes, and many times unfairly - but in this case it is warranted and long overdue. This has been a long time coming.

You don't just get to be an insecure jerk all the time and then expect zero repercussions when you shoot yourself in the foot. The treatment recieved in this case just equals the treatment always given. :devil:

I know he pretty much deserves whatever happens now...karma is a b****h that way/ What I'm saying is what can we, as a department collectively, do to help keep this kind of thing from happening again. Do any of us see another in distress, behaving recklessly, struggling with something? Can we help them? Do any of us see another acting inappropriately, maybe not doing their fair share, being a jerk to others. Can we step up and get that behavior to stop?
This is our department, and we make it what we want. If we all want it to be the best, no one else is going to make that happen. Maybe things wouldn't have gone so far with him if more people had stepped up instead of just writing it off to him being the golden boy. Maybe if everyone steps up and makes it clear that they want this to be the best department around, then there will be less of that crap, and more people succeeding on their merits.And even if not, then at least we'll all know that we are the best that we can be and can be proud of that.

A person can only be helped if they want help. And if you said anything to him about his behavior, attitude, etc, you were a "moron".

He didn't want help before this happened. And if he wants it now, it's only because his butt's in a jam. It's like when someone apologizes. They don't really mean it; they are only sorry because they were caught.

I know he pretty much deserves whatever happens now...karma is a b****h that way/ What I'm saying is what can we, as a department collectively, do to help keep this kind of thing from happening again. Do any of us see another in distress, behaving recklessly, struggling with something? Can we help them? Do any of us see another acting inappropriately, maybe not doing their fair share, being a jerk to others. Can we step up and get that behavior to stop?
This is our department, and we make it what we want. If we all want it to be the best, no one else is going to make that happen. Maybe things wouldn't have gone so far with him if more people had stepped up instead of just writing it off to him being the golden boy. Maybe if everyone steps up and makes it clear that they want this to be the best department around, then there will be less of that crap, and more people succeeding on their merits.And even if not, then at least we'll all know that we are the best that we can be and can be proud of that.

This is the same thing we all said when 409 went down. A lot of us that knew him felt really guilty and wished that we could have helped him before he imploded. But, a lot of us did not know how bad it had gotten. You can't save someone from themself. Period! He has been talked to. He has been asked to think about his behavior. Nothing works until that person thinks there is a problem and wants to fix it. Last time I checked, he saw NOTHING wrong with his behavior. I almost have a hard time blaming him for some of his problems, it's obviously something that runs in the family. His brother was married how many weeks before going "Bravo Delta" into 419? Just watch "Intervention" on A&E and see how hard it is to force someone to stop doing something that they can justify with every sense of their being! This is not just a job, it is a way of life and a calling. For those that don't think it is, it has a way of weeding you out. Sometimes it takes 7 months or 7 years, but the job will enentually weed out all non-hackers!

GUESS VIOLENCE RUNS IN THE FAMILY

Im reading these posts that say lets help each other out, hug and kiss each other yada yada yada...but in the real world if you walk up to this guy and say "he bro, I think you might have a problem with........" His response would be stfu. Mishaps are like knives, that either serve us or cut us, as we grasp them by the blade or the handle.

I'm not saying lets "intervene" and share in a touchy feely/huggy wuggy session. What I am suggesting is that we all step up. If we can show compassion and help someone, then we should, of course. But, like has been pointed out, that doesn't always work. In those cases what we are all guilty of is not stepping up and making it clear that we won't tolerate whatever the behavior is. We all see it, guys that act like jerks with the public and with coworkers. We watch it and the person gets comfortable acting that way and then it spills over to the public. That makes all of us look bad. We don't have to be a bunch of school yard tattle tales, but when we see something going that's wrong, we should try to do something about it, and he isn't the only one that acted out, is he?

any word yet?

Door code changed

five dollar foot longs at subway....who gives a Shizt...old news

It was announced earlier this week.

When and what?

The end of an era, turn your stuff in. The door code has been changed :shock:

ouch..............

Too much heat for him to avoid this one. But he has no one to blame but himself this time.

wow, Mr Untouchable was finally touched. :shock:

Allright easy guys.... He tarnished us a bit but he also us to back us up. Let's go easy on him. It's over, justice was served. Let's not pour vinegar on his open wound.

Hey Mod,

You suck! You pull crap when it involves a current employee, but you let this crap slide.

[Mod 557]

My apologies group....I have been away from the forum for a few days. I have removed the abusive post.