SPD raids McDonalds restaurant at Fruitville & Beneva

[News Flash]

SPD raids McDonalds restaurant

SARASOTA — Undercover SPD officers stormed a McDonald's restaurant at Fruitville and Beneva and ordered diners and employees to the ground as they tried to catch a suspected cocaine dealer, Juan T. Dixon.

The officers were dressed in black, carried rifles and wore masks when they ran into the restaurant. They burst through the door at dinner time, yelled for patrons to hide under tables and chased Dixon, who hid in a bathroom.

Police say the arrest would have gone smoother if Dixon had not stopped at the door of the restaurant to go back and grab his shake from the counter.

When he got back to the door, he saw the cars waiting for him and, realizing he was about to be arrested, he ran for the bathroom.

He shoved a boy out of the way and hid inside.

A customer, a woman who did not want her name used, ducked under a table and worried that the masked men were robbers, not police.

"I thought it was a gang," she said. "I mean, they had masks and guns and I never heard anyone say, 'police.' I thought these guys were coming to rob us."

Breakstone and Sarasota Police Chief Peter Abbott say officers had no choice but to rush into the restaurant because they thought Dixon was armed and might flush the drugs down a toilet or barricade himself in the restroom.

Abbott said it is common for undercover detectives to conduct stings and drug surveillance in public places because they do not want to raise a suspect's suspicions and place officers in greater jeopardy by requesting more remote locations.

There were no injuries. Dixon was arrested and jailed on drug trafficking charges.

Click here for the full story.

Hey I am pro SPD but it seems like public safety dosen't matter. This was way too dangerous. I am sure big Tom will be writing about it.

To Breakstone & Abbott:

How can you be so incredibly stupid to first, "sell" drugs in a McDonalds complete with playground at dinnertime, and then raid the place in masks and guns drawn simply to stop the guy you sold drugs to from flushing them down the toilet?

You have a lot of nerve, SB, to even use the argument of the suspect possibly being armed as an excuse to go in with guns drawn-- you had your own undercover offcr and CI inside selling to him moments before; if he was that dangerous, shouldn't they have apprehended him while he was still w/in arms' reach?

And do you really need the drugs back after your own officers prepared the drugs for the sale-- hadnt they already been tested first and how many officers do you need to testify later that they were indeed drugs and the amount was a trafficking amount?

Morons- that's what you acted like and you lost sight of why you are doing these type of operations in the first place--- to protect our community's children-- not endanger them by your own foolish actions.

Ma'am if you had any idea what goes on around you in the City of Sarasota you'd never leave your house. Per capita Sarasota has a higher crime rate than most large metropolitan areas in the US. If want to change how things are done at SPD, give us a hand, we need it badly. If we had more police officers, operations could be planned with more personnel reducing the possibility of "Citizens" like yoy ever even knowing about it. Since we have already lost 20 sworn police officers since the start of the year, the boundary between law abiding citizens and those that wish to break the law will continue to be reduced. Long story short, fewer cops = more crime = more police/criminal situations in areas that would have been considered "safe" months ago. Please feel free come down to City Hall on July 22nd for the Police Departments budget hearings and help us convince the City Commission that you want more cops, putting more bad guys in jail. Heck ask everybody that you know to come down. That will keep these types of situations further from the publics comfort zone. As always we thank you for your support and we readily accept your constructive criticism. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please accept our apologies and as always “We at the SPD are looking forward to exceeding your expectations on your next call for service………………”

Actually, per the most recent IACP audit, the City of Sarasota has more police officers per capita than average cities do...

Be it told, the fishkind report says that the influx of people working and coming into the city AT ANYTIME DURING THE WEEK year round exceeds 90,000. So, when you break down the ratio.....SPD has less cops per capita.....

Get you facts straight.................you ca look this uptoo. It's public record.

Good point SPD. And during season the city population swells beyond the breaking point. Samuel Clemens said there are three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Samuel Clemens said there are three kinds of lies. Lies, darn lies, and statistics.

Mark Twain said it. Not Samuel Clemens.

I looked it up and I can't believe what I saw--

The City of Sarasota has way more crime than the City of Bradenton. And we have lots more police here in Sarasota than Bradenton. Wow!!!!

Mark Twain. Twain is a pseudonym. You must be one of them colege boys.........