Bar worker finds police officer urinating on ice machine, Florida cops say
An Illinois police officer was caught urinating on an ice machine at a Florida bar, news outlets reported.
A worker stumbled upon the officer and tried to get him to stop before the cop assaulted him on Monday, Dec. 5, according to police records and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
Now, the officer has been “relieved of police powers pending an internal investigation” into the arrest, according to the Chicago Police Department, which has online records listing the officer as an employee.
The officer, who had been on the force for five years, was charged after the alleged incident along Florida’s Gulf Coast, according to WGN and WTVT. He was off-duty at the time, WFLA reported.
Pinellas County deputies said it happened at about 12:30 a.m. at Jimmy B’s Beach Bar at The Beachcomber Resort Hotel in St. Pete Beach. A worker trying to get ice saw the officer “’pissing’ on the ice in the machine,” officials wrote in an incident report.
As the worker tried to stop him, the officer reportedly “began verbally cussing the victim, and pushed him ‘a couple times,’ with both of his hands.” He is also accused of shoving a security guard before deputies tracked him down on the beach.
“The (defendant) was actively resisting, and initially not obeying lawful commands while being detained,” deputies wrote in their report. “The (defendant) continued to yell and kept standing when told to sit multiple times.”
The officer was charged with simple battery and disorderly conduct. He later bonded out of the Pinellas County jail, online records show.
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 10:04 AM with the headline "Bar worker finds police officer urinating on ice machine, Florida cops say."
