Coincidence would have it that Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach police were responding to other calls at 11 p.m. June 27 when a report of an all-terrain vehicle on the beach — ultimately found to have damaged five turtle nests and killed three black skimmers — was dispatched.
Holmes Beach was at 51st Street, assisting Florida Highway Patrol with a DUI crash with property damage. Bradenton Beach also had responded.
According to Holmes Beach communications supervisor Mike Dinius, about 10-15 minutes later, a call came in about a fight at D.Coy Ducks Tavern, 5410 Marina Drive, and BBPD responded.
Bradenton Beach police were then sent to investigate the suspicious vehicle on the beach but, when BBPD arrived, the vehicle was gone, according to Detective Sgt. Lenard Diaz.
“For some reason, it just didn’t sound as bad as it was, when it first was reported,” said Suzi Fox, director of Anna Maria Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring.
It wasn’t until the “first morning light” that the damage was found, she added.
BBPD Officer Eric Hill said that had the incident been deemed a higher priority, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office would have assisted.
The ATV may have been mistaken as a turtle watch vehicle, he added. And that is something he hopes to see remedied in the future by adding reflective markings on authorized vehicles.
Hill and other investigators are looking for witnesses with camera shots or video that may have caught the destruction.