Can a Key West Police officer just take a citizen's bicycle— without providing a receipt— and without filing a police report? Absolutely not, says Police Capt. Thomas Fortune.
But that's exactly what rookie cop Steve Austin reportedly did last week. Here's the story:
On Thursday evening, April 20, David Millette was walking his bicycle along the sidewalk on Duval Street. Millette had purchased the bike a few weeks earlier at a police auction of abandoned and confiscated bikes.
"The barker at the Oak Beach Inn started yelling at me," Millette reported. "He claimed that I had his friend's bike, which he said had been stolen.
"He tried to take the bike, but I pulled away from him. Then he followed me down the street threatening to call the cops.
"He yelled ahead to the doorman at Sloppy Joe's, telling him to stop me because I had a stolen bike," Millette said. "The guy at Sloppy Joe's tackled me, knocking me down. That's assault, isn't it?
"Then, suddenly, Officer Steve Austin was there. And after talking to the two other guys, he just took my bike!
"I told him that I had bought it at a police auction. But he took it anyway.
"I called the Police Dept. the next day and was told that, to get my bike back, I needed the receipt the officer gave me when he took my bike," Millette said. "But he hadn't given me a receipt. I was also asked if the officer had made a police report. I didn't know.
"Later, I was able to get Officer Austin on the phone. He rudely told me there was no receipt and no police report, and that was the way it was going to be— and he hung up on me.
"I called back again and was told to call back Monday. So I didn't have a bicycle for the weekend."
On Monday, Millette said he was able to prove that he had, indeed, bought the bike at a police auction by tracking down the auction sales list. His name was on it.
With that information, he was able to get someone at the police station to approve his coming over and picking up the bike between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.— four days after Austin had illegally taken it.
"But when I got there, nobody seemed to have the key to the impound area," Millette said. "I was told to come back Tuesday.
"At this point, I had had enough. The cops had taken my bike illegally in the first place— and now they were giving me the runaround.
"I saw Police Chief Dillon walk by and I complained to him," Millette said. "He wasn't happy about it, but he did help me get the bike back right away. But it's a shame that a citizen has to go all the way to the Chief of Police to get back a bicycle stolen by a cop!"
"Officer Austin was wrong," said Capt. Fortune. "He failed to follow procedure. If he thought he had cause to take that bike, he should at least have given the man a receipt. And he certainly should have completed a police report.
"Austin's a new officer," Fortune said. "But that's no excuse."
Fortune did not say whether or not Austin would be disciplined.
"Why wouldn't he be arrested on theft charges?" Millette asked.