Man pulls gun over tangled fishing line

[News Flash]

Man pulls gun over tangled fishing line

SARASOTA COUNTY -- A 76-year-old man pointed a rifle at Myakka River boaters after an argument over tangled fishing line, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies arrested Ronald R. Connolly...

Click here for the full story.

good x15 serves him right, crazy old man :wink:

[Retired n Luvin it]

I see rookies here~~ A good arrest ??~ Me thinks not..

Crime allegedly occured 2 months ago. The victims were so traumatized, that it took them that long to summon the courage to contact the SSO and make a complaint.

Suspect says it was a BB gun, and then allows deputies to search his home. Deputies find no firearm similar to the one described by the shattered victims.

So rather than take a PCA and forward it tp the SAO, Deps Dudley and Doo-wright decide to 10/15 the guy without any physical evidence to back it up. I see a decline to file from the SAO, and possibly a civil suit against our uniformed crusaders.

Looks like a stale, he said ~ she said. I can only hope that they were not told to make a x15 by a supervisor.. If so~~ sign her Sarge.

I speculate that the arrest was done on a warrant, after the SAO reviewed the PCA. 8)

the crime was investigated at the time of the incident....several agencies involved as jurisdictional issues arose..... referred to SAO.

grt x15 good job sao

[News Flash]

Follow-up story:

Ronald R. Connolly convicted in firearm assault

SARASOTA COUNTY — A 77-year-old man was sentenced to three years of probation Friday for pointing a weapon at Myakka River boaters after an argument over tangled fishing line.

Ronald R. Connolly had spent a total of six days in jail, counting several days after his arrest in December and several more after a jury convicted him on an aggravated assault charge in June.

Circuit Judge Charles Roberts also ordered Connolly to pass an eight-week anger management class and forfeit all weapons.

People on the boat told sheriff's deputies that they got into a quarrel with Connolly after he cast his fishing line into their boat in September, court records state.

The boaters say Connolly, a retired model maker, then went into his house and got a rifle with a black scope and a bipod, and pointed it at the boaters from the rear balcony of his home. A rifle matching that description was never found.

Connolly told deputies that the boat owner had threatened him physically so he got his BB gun to scare them away.

Source