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.
Four men were arrested on Saturday following a traffic stop where two handguns and drugs were found.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We always say traffic is the number one complaint we get. The number one thing we deal with, but also is the number one most dangerous call we can have, about the 103 mile marker on Saturday, we did stop a car for traffic violations. When we came up and the window rolled down, a large amount of marijuana was coming out the windows, heavy smell. So no one inside the car had medical marijuana cards, so that gives us probable cause to search. The driver did not have a valid driver’s license. So right off the bat, we’ve got a lot of problems going on in this car, four young men, early adults in their 20s, between 20 and 27-ish. So these are pretty strong young men. These young men, for the most part, all had troubled backgrounds. The one person had a risk protection order, and was listed as an extreme danger, so not supposed to be having any weapons. Another person was a convicted robber, had been arrested for a robbery with a deadly weapon, so can’t possess weapons. So we have one person also was listed as a state, as a delinquent. So these guys are not even allowed to possess guns in the first place. We found two semi automatic handguns loaded in the car both had 32 round extended magazines, which is a little unusual for the average person to have a 32 round magazine hanging out the bottom of a semi auto handgun. We found drugs, drug paraphernalia. So inside this car was just a litany of violations of laws, of concerns. One of the weapons was reported stolen, stolen from a South Florida Panthers hockey game, so obviously, there’s nothing good happening in this car. Lucky no one got hurt. This is a very dangerous situation, very fluid. We did wind up arresting all four in the car for a variety of charges of drugs and guns and different related stuff and licensing. So we’re glad to get these idiots off the road, get these guns from these people, recover the stolen guns, get the drugs off the street, arrest these people, hold them accountable who are violation of risk protection orders, delinquency violations and possessing a weapon by convicted felon. So again, whole car full of trash.”
Another traffic stop of yet another person in their early to mid 20s, from Orlando Park, Florida, was arrested for reaching speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour on Saturday.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We’re so lucky that this person didn’t kill themselves or somebody else. Saturday weekend traffic is very heavy in the Keys, especially in Islamorada. It’s frustrating for many but this individual, instead of being patient like the rest of us, used the center turn lane as an acceleration passing lane. That’s a 45 mile an hour zone, his speeds were in excess of 90 miles an hour in that center turn lane, just blowing past traffic, had almost head on car crashes. He was swerving to avoid impact and crashes. His actions were reckless in nature. He went to jail for reckless operation, reckless driving of a vehicle. We did tow his car. You always wonder why people are so stupid and how they don’t think that they’re going to be stopped? You can’t draw that type of attention to yourself and not eventually be involved in a crash or have law enforcement make contact with you and take the appropriate action. But again, just like the last call with the four guys, these are not local residents for the most part. This individual is from Orlando, the other four from South Florida areas, we continue to deal with the impact of a heavy tourist driven area where a lot of people are coming in for the weekend or day trips, which drive us crazy on the roads, make our roads dangerous and make the sheriff’s office have to work extra hard to try to keep everybody safe and secure.”
On July 1, a new crime called Dangerous Excessive Speeding will take effect in Florida.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We’ve got to keep trying to put laws to hold people accountable that are driving or acting in these dangerous manners which are detrimental to public safety and life and limb. I think this is a good move. Will it solve our problems? No, but every little bit helps to mitigate it. Some people are more likely to listen to it, or at least it gives more tools in the toolbox to the courts to hold people accountable and try to prevent that behavior from continuing. So I think it’s a good rule.”
Resource cases also continue in the Keys.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Up around the 61 and a half mile marker, we did come across an individual who was harvesting three queen Conch, which we know are protected species. You’re not allowed to harvest, touch, molest them. He was in actual physical possession of them. So we did give him a notice to appear. We did return those protected species back to the environment. Then up around the 81 and a half mile marker, came across two juveniles who were spear fishing in a no spear fishing zone. That area we know, north of the Long Key Brigde, you’re not allowed to spear fish unless you’re three miles out. They were in possession of a red grouper, two hog snapper and a yellow Jack, all of which were speared in a no spear zone. Again, notice to appears were given to those juveniles. So we just every single week, are doing stuff to try to protect our resources, our environment, and try to make sure there’s something here for the future generations. But it’s a difficult, challenging job. We’re only scratching the surface. We’re only getting one out of who knows how many that are poaching down here. Between FWC, sheriff’s office, our friends at the United States Coast Guard, even all of us together, are only scratching the service of the negative impacts that this is having to destroy our environment, which is so fragile.”
Helping protect victims of domestic violence is also important to Monroe County law enforcement.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We’re trying to everything can. Dennis Ward’s a great partner with the sheriff’s office. We’ve all got to work together, state Attorney, sheriffs office, courts, to protect our citizens, our most vulnerable. That’s where these risk protection orders come into place. So many things we’re doing, trying to do what we can to mitigate and keep people safe and secure. But unfortunately for us, there’s always job security, always someone doing something stupid. Stupid doesn’t stop and the need for law enforcement will forever be in existence.”
A 32-year-old Marathon man was arrested on Wednesday for hitting a child with the buckle side of a folded leather belt.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This was a father who was trying to discipline a child for skipping school. And parents are allowed to discipline up to some level, but you can’t discipline to extreme levels, cause injuries or use something which is like a belt buckle and a metal strap. In this case, he used a leather belt with a belt buckle, and struck this child multiple times with extreme force, leaving clear signs of injuries, bruising, redness that were above normal corporal discipline to the point that it violated law for just child abuse. So there was no risk protection order in place at the time. The father was residing in the house with the mother and the child. Now the courts are going to get involved and have to determine what’s the best interest. We had to contact the Department of Children Family Services to bring them involved, to make sure that this is a safe and secure household between DCF and the courts to determine what’s the best interest of this child at home and what’s the best. Where does the father fall into this? Again, you have a right to discipline your child, but only up to some certain level, but when you go above that, you cross the line, you’re going to be held accountable. You cannot abuse children in these levels, discipline or not.”
A 39-year-old Marathon man was arrested on Thursday after causing a disturbance at Fisherman’s Hospital.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “It’s not uncommon for the sheriff’s office or police department to have to respond to area hospitals for violent patients who are in these hospitals. We did get a call to Marathon at Fisherman’s about a male who was combative and violent, causing a disturbance. He was a patient at the hospital. We got there, got briefed by staff, went to try to encounter this individual who was in a room, had IVs and everything going, to try to calm him down and see what was going on, why he was tearing things up. He immediately became angry and violent towards officers. Started ripping his IVs out, coming out, attacking officers, putting hands on officers, and it turned into a physical brawl. They had to bring in other resources, and it was a fight. Unfortunately, I think a taser had to be used in this case. We eventually secured this individual and got him medically cleared, and then brought him to Monroe County jail to spend a little time at the Rick Ramsay Bed and Breakfast. So it’s sad. You’re there to be treated for medical treatment, and you act like an ass and you shouldn’t be surprised. Instead of being treated at the hospital, you’re being hosted at the sheriff’s office.”
A hurricane exercise is underway today in conjunction with Monroe County Emergency Management and multiple agencies.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We always have to be hurricane prepared, have hurricane plans personally and for our family and pets, but we as well the sheriff’s office have to have hurricane plans for all my departments, all my districts and divisions. We also have to be participating in these hurricane exercises to make sure we’re ready. We do them in conjunction with emergency management, city, county, fire rescues, sheriff’s office, or other utility services that come out. So these are really important, to have these controlled exercises to try to get us better prepared to work together, to have plans to make good, proper decisions. God forbid a hurricane comes, we hope it doesn’t, but we’re in a hurricane prone area. It’s not a matter of if, but when a hurricane hits down the road, we hope, obviously, if it does, it’s a lower level, not a major storm. But either way we’ve gotta be ready to help, aid and assist, make good, proper, sound decisions and keep our citizens, visitors, safe and secure.”