It’s hard to deal with a gun-toting teenager when a naked woman is rolling past you on a golf cart while drunkenly ignoring your advice to take cover.
That’s what Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies said in an arrest affidavit this week after a nude trespasser interrupted their six-hour standoff with an armed suspect in Dunedin, Fla.
Jessica Elisabeth Smith, 28, has been charged with resisting an officer without violence in connection with the incident.
The tense and briefly bizarre standoff played out late Sunday and early Monday after sheriff’s deputies responded to a call about suspicious teenagers in the area.
Police showed up at the scene and one of the teenagers immediately fled, prompting deputies to give chase, authorities said.
The suspect fired a gun toward some bystanders and then climbed onto the roof of a home, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. No bystanders were injured, but the suspect did accidentally shoot himself in the thigh while fleeing.
The suspect holed up on the roof of the home and police quickly surrounded it, with SWAT, armoured vehicles, air support and a negotiator response team joining the effort, WFLA reports.
Police were in the middle of the standoff when the nude woman rolled past several marked sheriff’s vehicles on a golf cart, according to the arrest affidavit. She was not wearing any clothes at the time.
Smith allegedly approached the home and ignored commands to leave the scene, according to the affidavit. She had nothing to do with the suspect or the standoff, the affidavit said.
“The defendant had a distinct odour of an alcoholic beverage coming from her person, and she was completely nude,” the affidavit said.
Police say the Boston native’s actions and “inability to follow directions put multiple deputies at risk for potentially getting shot at.”
Deputies ultimately interrupted her nude joyride and handcuffed her at the scene.
Authorities eventually subdued the armed suspect on the house and took him in custody. They also took him to a hospital so his injured leg could be treated.
Myles Abbott, 18, has been charged with loitering and prowling, two counts of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, two counts of aggravated assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, grand theft of a firearm and resisting an officer without violence.
There was also a warrant out for his arrest for vehicular homicide.
The two other teenagers involved in the initial call, ages 16 and 18, were arrested and charged with firearm-related offences.
Smith was released on her own recognizance Monday, jail records show.