You’ve reached 911. What is your emergency?
Words to that effect came from dispatchers over the New Year’s holiday and, depending on the responses from Anna Maria Island callers, sent island police to a variety of emergencies.
According to Holmes Beach police, on New Year’s Eve, the following reports were logged.
· Police responded to the 500 block of 74th Street at 7:35 p.m. after a homeowner’s fireworks caused a fire on a neighbor’s docked boat near 75th Street. A man told police he’d shot a bottle rocket across the canal, hitting the boat and starting the fire. He and a neighbor put out the fire before first-responders arrived.
· At 11:57 p.m., HBPD responded to a disturbance in the 6300 block of Gulf Drive. A couple’s argument turned physical and police were called. The man’s face and arm were bleeding. However, the man was unsure of the order of events. The woman said the man hit her in the head. Police arrested both people for battery and transported them to the Manatee County jail.
On New Year’s Day, at 1:50 a.m., Holmes Beach police responded to a disturbance at West Bay condominiums. A couple argued after watching a fireworks display. The woman told police the man pushed her. The man denied it and showed police a video he’d taken documenting the evening. Police found no evidence of an altercation. The man left the apartment. No charges were filed.
— Kathy Prucnell