Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
The alligator swim happened over the weekend and everyone was safe.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “What a great event, a lot of manpower allocation, lot of people have to be involved between the organizers and events coordination. But then there’s also the big part, is the safety aspect that we’re have 330 swimmers and a couple hundred kayakers that are going from the 80 Mile Marker thereabouts, four miles out, to alligator lighthouse, coming back, swimming back. So there’s an eight mile course, but we’ve got to make sure FWC, Coast Guard, sheriff’s office, other related personnel, safety boats, fire rescue personnel for medical reasons, we’ve got to make sure we keep boats out of that area. Remember, last year we had an intoxicated operator of a boat, which was going through the course, had to be stopped by a helicopter sitting almost in front of them. So scary. It’s a big area to try to make sure we keep safe and secure. We’re worried about the weather to keep updated every half hour what the weather was doing, because there was some really bad weather squalls that day, leading edge of winds. So we’re worried about currents, boats, jellyfish, worried about weather. There’s a lot to get done, but it wound up being really good. The weather just laid out right before the event, and it let the event go. And after that, the weather came in again. So they had a nice little break, just a perfect timing. But no one got hurt. Safe, secure and orderly. There was a well done job. Again, partnerships, everyone working together, land, sea, air, to make sure this was a safe, secure event.”
Unfortunately, over the weekend, a 17 year old from Plantation Florida died following a dive off Grassy Key.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “So sad. This is at the tail end of the swim that day. So FWC had a helicopter in the air. That helicopter was diverted from the swim up to this location, just off of Grassy Key, bayside. A 34 foot vessel. I think they were lobstering, a family. A father and a 17 year old son were going back and forth on the water, sharing the regulator. At some in point in time the son, started feeling unwell and was going to go back to the boat. Started swimming back to the boat, halfway to boat, back to the boat, he became unconscious. The father saw him face down, rushed over to him, flipped him back over, rushed him to the boat, started doing CPR, called 911 system in place, got him in to shore and ultimately to the hospital. But unfortunately, he did not make it. So that’s going to be a case by the medical examiner to determine cause of death, sometime you can get carbon monoxide fumes from the exhaust from the machine that can have adverse impacts. That’s a possibility. There could be some underlying medical conditions. We don’t know, so we have to figure out what took place. But what a horrific, sad event down on vacation and a 17 year old young man, whole life ahead of him passes away. So just heartbreaking for everybody involved.”
A burglary happened on Ramrod Key happened over the weekend – a security camera caught the suspect.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “It’s a great job to have the camera for sure, and great job by the sheriff’s office to be able to get access to this video right away. Get a description, go out, put out a BOLO, be on the lookout for, and yes, so video surveillance did catch a 38 year old male go under a house, grab a bike, the cooler pack, the dive mask and leave the property. But with the video, we had a really good description, we set up a perimeter pretty quickly, and we located him a short time later, and did arrest him for these charges. So the sheriff’s office, we’re pretty quick to get these cases solved in rapid time. So that was a good case overall.”
A 42 year old man on a bicycle in Key West was arrested because he was wanted in Arkansas for child related crimes.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This individual was stopped on a bicycle at nighttime for no bike lights, and was very evasive and combative. Had no ID, no identification, the information he was giving us we felt pretty clearly was wrong, was bogus. We knew he was hiding something. So our officers did not just let it go. We continued to try to investigate, investigate and deal with this guy. We ultimately had the ability to place him under arrest on other charges. We got him to the jail trying to do fingerprints and trying to do facial recognition, trying to figure out who this guy is. We knew he was giving us garbage. We eventually were able to locate that he was, in fact, giving us false information. We eventually did identify who he was. We eventually determined that he did have out of state warrants for child related pornography and sexual related stuff and really a bad stuff relating to our kids and our society, a very bad person. Arkansas clearly wanted him, and we’re glad to get him back to Arkansas where he can be held accountable for those acts against these children, but also, more than happy to get this garbage out of our community before he offends somebody in our community.”
A Miami, Florida, man is facing drug charges after a traffic stop last week.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We talk about traffic, how important it is to try to keep people safe and secure, make sure people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing on the highways, and we stopped the car from speeding, other charges. When we came up to the car, there was a strong smell of marijuana coming out of the car. No medical marijuana card was issued to this person, which gives us the right to search the car. Ultimately we did find, cocaine and marijuana. So we did arrest him for felony charges, misdemeanor charges. We’ve got the drugs off the street. We’ve held them accountable, towed his car, continue to fight the war on drugs, but again, traffic enforcement actions are so important for public safety in the highways, it’s number one complaint we get, but it leads into so many other more, bigger, important cases.”
A man from Homestead was caught at a traffic stop last week and the canine officer alerted to drugs.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “The canines do such a great job for these narcotics cases. A traffic stop, an individual from Homestead, a drug dealer, and once the car was stopped, the canine did alert to the presence of narcotics. A search found cocaine and crack, powder and crack cocaine, the total amount that came in was 61 and a half grams. It’s a trafficking level of cocaine, so enhanced penalties due to the weight of the amount of narcotics that this person had. So we’re happy to get those drugs, crack cocaine and powder cocaine, off the streets, arrest this individual, send a message to him and other drug dealers in the Homestead area, this is not the place to sling your drugs. As we always say, you’re more likely to get arrested here. You’re more likely to be charged, prosecuted, and you’re more likely to spend more time in jail or prison in Monroe than you do in Dade. That’s just a fact. For criminals, this is not the place to be, because you’re going to get it here. In Dade county, a lot of these cases are dropped, dismissed, pretty easy, or the sentences are very low, slaps on the wrist. But that’s not how it works here in Monroe, so we did arrest him, get the drugs, towed his car, and we’re going to send a strong message to him and others.”
The Florida appellate court has ruled the state ban on open carry of firearms is a violation of the Second Amendment. So now it is legal to openly carry firearms.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “The sheriff’s office, our stance is we don’t make laws, rules, regulations. Our job is to enforce them, whatever they may be. I’m a pro Second Amendment person. But when it comes to open carry, this is interesting. They’ve made this decision that you can open carry. I don’t think it’s going to be the wild, wild west, but I think our listeners in Monroe will, at times, see persons who are going to try to see how far they can push it, or looking for attention or trying to get someone’s goat. Potentially now you could have an AR 15 or assault rifle slung over your shoulder, along with a shotgun and handguns on your hips and thighs, and extra magazines. We’re always going to have those type of people that want this attention, that are looking to think they’re big, bad, important or just for public shock. So we hope that we don’t see much of that, because that type of stuff is difficult. This age right now, with active shooters in schools and churches, to have someone who could be walking in front of a school or church, with a rifle slung, first thing people are going to think about is that’s an active shooter, and or it could give an active shooter, a potential ability to get closer to a larger crowd, if they decide to do something. So we just have to take a breath, be calm, cool and collected about this. Hope that people are rational who are going to open carry that are doing it in some non aggressive manner, not to try to instill fear, and it’s going to be harder for law enforcement in these type of responses because last week, if we had someone with a slung rifle, well, that’s a crime, and with that, we would think they’re up to no good. We would dispatch multiple cars, lights and sirens, and that person will be taken down at gunpoint, going to jail. This week, that’s no longer a crime. That’s no longer suspicious in nature. We wouldn’t have cars, running lights and sirens if we got a call, we’re likely to send two patrol cars, routine and but we’re not going to be having guns pointed, getting a person on the ground, separating them from their weapon. So there’s a lot of questions here, not as many answers. We just have to see how it’s going to be. Again, I don’t expect the wild, wild west, but I do expect at times, that we’re going to have people that are going to try to have that shock factor, and it’s something we’re not used to. Thus, when we see it, it’s going to be potentially shocking for some, so we’ve just got to see how it plays out. But again, our job is to enforce laws. We don’t make them. We enforce them.”
Jonathan Crane, operations leader of the sheriff’s office Bureau of Corrections, graduated from the FBI National Academy recently.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “John Crane is a great young man. Number two in my bureau of corrections. It takes about every seven plus years before we get a slot in the National Academy. It’s the most prestigious command school there is anywhere in the nation and country. There’s generally about 255 students from every part of the nation and even from abroad. Generally about 10% of the class is made up of foreign students. We have state, local, federal military personnel that take this course. It’s 10 weeks. So I’m proud of John. He’s a really good young man, and he’s been wanting to go, and he went there represented well, made us proud, and he’s going to bring back a lot of knowledge and better help him to do his job. I see him as the next bureau chief for corrections when my jail major retires here down the road, John’s likely to be the next person to take over. So this will just help him have more tools in the toolbox to be efficient, effective, do the job and do the job efficiently and effectively.”