PENSACOLA
- A man who was threatening a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission officer used a 1-year-old as a shield when the officer
reached for his pepper spray.
According to a report from the FWC, Officer Fred Rondeau was
unloading his gear from his patrol vessel when he overheard several
people arguing at the Bayou Texar boat ramp near Pensacola. Rondeau
discovered the disturbance was the result of an incident that had
occurred just a few minutes earlier at the Bayou Texar Bridge.
Apparently, a man fishing from the nearby bridge threw his fishing
lure over and hit a vessel that was passing by in a marked channel. The
bridge fisherman and his wife walked down to the boat ramp and yelled
obscenities at the vessel operator, the report said. When Officer
Rondeau tried to speak with the bridge fisherman, the man continued to
be very agitated and refused to give his name or identification.
At one point, the fisherman threatened to fight with Rondeau.
Rondeau pulled his pepper spray out, the report said, and the man
reacted by picking up a small child to shield himself. Rondeau did not
spray the man, but he did call for back-up. Several Pensacola Police
officers arrived to assist.
Rondeau arrested the fisherman for disorderly conduct and resisting
arrest without violence, the report said. The man's wife was also
arrested by Pensacola police on the same charges. The report did not
give their names, address or ages.