A police canine named “Boss” showed a 47-year-old Bradenton man who was boss after a police chase and standoff ended in the water in Cortez.
Douglas Bloomer was arrested in the morning hours Aug. 6 following a disturbance at the Bridge Tender Inn & Dockside Bar, 135 Bridge St., in Bradenton Beach, where he allegedly grabbed a woman’s shoulder and attempted to get her into his pickup truck — and after a chase on the east side of the Cortez Bridge.
The chase began after Bloomer’s truck came swerving into the path of a Bradenton Beach Police Department vehicle responding to the disturbance.
Officer Mike Bazell pursued Bloomer’s truck over the bridge to Cortez until it stopped in the 12700 block of Cortez Road West.
When Bazell approached the vehicle, Bloomer got out and ran west, under the bridge and then north, according to the BBPD report.
Manatee County sheriff’s deputies also responded with K-9 Boss and an aviation unit, which alerted law enforcement on the ground to Bloomer’s whereabouts. BBPD officer Eric Hill then spotted Bloomer, hiding underwater with a small area of his face and nose exposed.
Bloomer was ordered out of the water but, according to an MCSO report, he refused. The police K-9 was then called into action.
The BBPD report states Bloomer was transported to Blake Medical Center for treatment of bite wounds before being transported to the Manatee County jail.
Bloomer had a recent run-in with law enforcement, a felony theft charge filed July 30 by the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney, after he allegedly stole his girlfriend’s keys, cell phone and computer.
At Bloomer’s first court appearance for the Aug. 6 incident, he was appointed a public defender and bond was set at $71,000.
At Islander press time, he was in custody at the Manatee County jail.
Bloomer’s arraignment is set for Sept. 8 at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave., Bradenton.
