PCSO mourns the loss of Deputy Sheriff Christopher Broadhead
It is with great sadness
and heavy hearts that we inform you about the line-of-duty death of Deputy
Sheriff Christopher Broadhead, who was stricken with COVID-19 and has been
in the hospital for several weeks. He succumbed to the illness earlier today,
August 23, 2021.
Deputy Broadhead was 32
years old, and became a deputy sheriff working in patrol in November 2011.
Throughout his career he was also a property crimes detective, robbery
detective, and homicide detective. He was most recently assigned to the
Southeast District, in the Lake Wales area of the county. He was a graduate of
the University of Florida.
Chris was married to
former Deputy Elisa (Ranze) Broadhead. Chris was a stepfather to Elisa’s three
children and together he and Elisa have two daughters, ages one and two.
Deputy Broadhead received many accolades throughout his 10-year career – he was awarded a Medal of Valor in 2013, several division and department commendations, a Sheriff’s Commendation, and Meritorious Service Medal in 2017.
He’s seen here with Sheriff Judd receiving that medal at the PCSO Annual Awards Ceremony in 2017.
On Aug. 25 at approximately 7:34 p.m., the female entered into a residence located in the 300 block of Lake Howard Dr. NW while the owner was sound asleep in bed inside the residence. Once the female entered the residence, the victim’s video surveillance captured the female rummaging through the victim’s property searching for something to steal. After rummaging for a few minutes, the female selected a basket full of prescription pill bottles and proceeded to walk back out the front door of the victim’s residence with said prescriptions in hand.
Anyone who recognizes her is asked to call Det. Al-Shaair at 863-292-7921.
Winter Haven Police are asking for the public’s help in locating 63 year-old Densley Brown.
Brown left his Palmetto Ave. home on August 11, 2021 at approximately 7:45 a.m. in his blue Hyundai Sonata. He called his daughter to tell her he was headed to the hospital for a medical examination. He never arrived at the hospital. All hospitals in the area have been checked and Brown has not been seen. All locations where Brown usually frequents have come with negative results as well.
Detectives have conducted extensive searches to no avail. Brown’s family and authorities are concerned and are asking for anyone who knows of Brown’s whereabouts to call immediately.
Brown left in his blue Sonata with a Florida tag “MSSUPA”. (photo shown is not actual vehicle) Brown was last seen wearing a white t-shirt and gray shorts.
Anyone who has information regarding Brown’s whereabouts is asked to call Detective Chapnick at 863-632-0071 or 863-401-2256.
Davenport, Florida – The Davenport Police Department has arrested Christina Santiago, DOB 03/16/87, and charged her with Aggravated Fleeing to Elude with Property Damage, Leaving the Scene with Property Damage, Reckless Driving, Resisting Law Enforcement without Violence, and issued citations for failing to obey a traffic control device, stop sign and no driver’s license never had one issued. During traffic stop Santiago allegedly fled police, drove on a field and then crashed through a fence. Eventually Santiago was captured after she allegedly ditch the car and ran into the woods. According to reports a K9 unit from Haines City assisted in apprehending her. She was brief hospitalized after the K9 apprehension.
The following is a long excerpt from the Davenport Police Department affidavit (It should be noted that this is an unedited report of facts by the Davenport Police Department. These facts are up for question and everyone is entitled to question the validity of facts by law enforcement in a court of law. The Daily Ridge does not rewrite these facts as some meanings or interpretations could be in error and change context. We hope readers appreciate being able to read the information and come to their own understanding and conclusions. Certain names of witnesses or victims may be redacted) :
On 8/19/2021 at approximately 1911 hours, I, Officer Bispo (D161), attempted a traffic stop on a 2015 Dodge SUV bearing Florida tag NZAP22. The driver, Christina Santiago, was operating a motor vehicle with no valid driver’s license and a seize tag order which was confirmed through an FCIC/NCIC query. Upon activation of my emergency lights and sirens, the suspect intentionally fled from law enforcement. The defendant fled into the Lewis Mathews Park onto the football field where children were present, placing them in danger. She continued by striking a fence, causing property damage and exiting out of the park back onto the roadway.
A short time later, the Dodge was located near the intersection of Highway 17-92 North and Ronald Reagan Parkway and was abandoned. K9 Officer Webster conducted a track that lead to a heavily wooded area. Multiple K9 warnings were given for the suspect to exit the woods; however she failed to comply with lawful commands.
The defendant was subsequently apprehended, arrested and charged with aggravated fleeing to elude with property damage, leaving the scene with property damage, reckless driving, resisting law enforcement without violence, and issued citations for failing to obey a traffic control device, stop sign and no driver’s license never had one issued.
Bartow, Fla. (Aug. 25, 2021) — Water mailers advertising a free water inspection have been sent to Polk County residents and they have no affiliation with Polk County Utilities, or any public water utility in Polk County.
Polk County Utilities is required to meet primary and secondary drinking water standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency and enforced by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The water provided to our customers meets or exceeds the standards for drinking water to ensure it is safe for use in your home.
Polk County Utilities conducts extensive water testing at each of its facilities by certified and trained personnel. The results of these tests, which are sent to state officials for review, can be accessed through Polk County’s website at any time at https://www.polk-county.net/utilities/water-quality-reports.
Such advertisements have been called a scam in news reports from earlier this year, where a company will “test your water, ‘find’ a problem and then attempt to sell expensive filtering equipment that is unnecessary,” according to information from the City of Cape Coral.
Please use caution in allowing any unknown company into your home to conduct any inspection. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the quality or safety of your drinking water, please contact Polk County Utilities at (863) 397-1441 .
High Rollers Hosting Fundraisers For Local 8-Year-Old Girl With Brain Cancer
by James Coulter
Around July 4, 8-year-old Tinley complained about severe headaches followed by vomiting. Her parents took her to the doctor, and following several tests, she was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Recently, Tinley had a golf ball-sized tumor removed from her brain. Her family is traveling back and forth from Gainesville to have her receive further treatment, including 33 days of radiation treatment. She recently arrived in Jacksonville to start her treatment.
When Jen Wilson learned about the young girl and her family’s plight through GoFundMe, she and her crew at High Rollers Car Truck & Motorcycle Club of Polk County decided to help Tinley by raising money for their various medical expenses.
As someone with a cousin who had a similar chronic cancer, Wilson knew what the girl and her family were going through, and she wanted to do everything she could to help them through their time of need.
“It was a four-year battle for my cousin,” she said. “So this was pretty close to home. We hope for a good turnout. It is a big financial struggle happening for a child like that.”
She and her teammate, David Bryant, travel to a different car and motorcycle shows to help raise awareness and proceeds for local causes. In addition, they collaborate with other clubs to achieve similar goals.
“We help the community,” Wilson said. “It is not about winning things; it is more about helping people and donating and community service time to give back to everyone.”
High Rollers Car Truck & Motorcycle Club Of Polk County hosted their first fundraiser for young Tinley at Rent King in Haines City on Sunday. The event had them sell raffle items and provide a bucket for anyone willing to donate.
They had collaborated with other local clubs. One of their partners, Simply Flawed from Auburndale, was expected to attend, but they were unable to due to their members attending a funeral service for one of their loved ones in Lakeland, Roe said.
The local club has been around since 2000. They host regular car and motorcycle shows to benefit charities and people with severe illnesses, most notably cancer.
Cabby Roe, the leader and founder, was diagnosed with colon cancer six years ago. He received surgery that removed a billiard-sized polyp and 18 inches of his transverse colon, and he has been cancer-free ever since. He also had an older brother who passed away with cancer. So he knows the personal struggles that other cancer patients go through.
“That is what motivates me to do this for people,” he said. “Soanything that has to do with cancer or a major life-threatening illness, we are all about helping people with that.”
In addition, the co-founder and vice president who helped him start the club in 2000 passed away five years later from melanoma skin cancer. Roe has been running the club since then in memory of his close friend, he said.
“I spent a lot of time with him the last couple weeks before he passed and last thing he told me was whatever you do keep the club alive,” Roe said.
The High Rollers host various shows for special causes. Next month, on September 19, they will be hosting another show to raise money for a local dog park named in honor of a fire dog that recently passed away.
Recently, they hosted a show at Rent King, one of whose employees had passed away due to complications from COVID-19. Their show raised $1,500, Roe said.
“That is what we are all about,” he said. “It is not always about trophies. We like to give back to the community and support the people who support us.”
High Rollers will be hosting another show in the next few weeks as a fundraiser for Tinley. For more information, visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/HighRollersTruck4x4ClubOfPolkCo
Brew Hounds Sports Lounge Goes 12 Years Strong “Always Among Friends”
by James Coulter
Twelve years and a yearlong pandemic later, Brew Hounds Sports Lounge in Auburndale continues to go strong with a commitment to good drinks, better friends, and overall great times.
The local sports bar celebrated its 12th-year anniversary last Friday with drink specials, karaoke, and food served by the Patty Wagon food truck. The bar had previously celebrated its tenth year anniversary two years ago with a significant celebration, though this year’s celebration proved lighter.
“My partner Luke and I are grateful every day,” said co-owner Skip Jacobs. “When we opened 12 years ago, we took a chance at starting a new venture in this town, and we had full support all these years. Even moving this location and being closed for five months last year to this day, we are still around and relevant.”
Jacobs received the idea to open his own bar after moving from Atlanta, where he previously worked in the advertising industry. His business partner had moved from Palm Beach, where he worked in landscaping.
“The two of them eventually met up, expressed their desire for a local bar where they could strike up a conversation, and the rest, they say, was history,” the Daily Ridge previously reported.
Both of them decided to join forces and open a sports bar. As the Winter Haven area was oversaturated with similar venues, they decided to open their location in Auburndale. Brew Hounds opened on August 20, 2009, and they have remained open due to their dedicated customers.
“Key to our success has been serving a good drink at a reasonable price in a clean environment with a smile on our face,” Jacobs said. “I have to give all the credit to our staff and our employees who have been with us for multiple years. We don’t have a lot of turnovers, and I give a lot of credit to our employees.”
Customers old and new love the overall atmosphere, which proves to be less seedy than similar establishments. Many Facebook reviews extoll the bar for its friendly, welcoming environment that makes new customers into dedicated ones.
“The place looks sketchy, [but] once you go in the door it is very clean, friendly, and [with] good music playing in the background loud enough so can have a conversation without getting loud. I definitely recommend,” one Facebook reviewer wrote.
“Great place! Always a great time,” Another wrote. “Bartenders are awesome always on top of thing’s. Amazing atmosphere,highly recommend. Been there several time’s and will definitely go back!”
Last year, Brew Hounds was forced to close down due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. During that time, the building was refurbished with a new patio out front and the entire indoor area designated as non-smoking. To remain afloat during these uncertain times, a special t-shirt was sold with proceeds going towards the employees.
“We did not lose a single one after being closed down, they all came back,” Jacobs said. “I want to say thank you to the community and all that to the supporters through the years. We are always among friends.”
Stephen Koury loves nature. He loves to be out in the natural world. And he loves to take what he sees there and replicate it on his canvas. His nature paintings of flowers, birds, and other flora and fauna display such vibrant colors, and they all appear natural enough to sprout to life from out of his canvas.
He attributes his vibrant, almost realistic artwork to his medium of gauche, a style of painting that applies layers upon layers of acrylic paint to create bright, brilliant colors. Such a unique art style, coupled with years of practice, has allowed him to capture the natural beauty and colors of the natural world.
“I want my painting to be accurate so they [other people] can feel as they can reach in and touch the animals,” Koury said. “Ipaint in very thin layers. So when you paint on red on top of red on top of red, you get this really vibrant color, that is not one application of colors, it is several layers. So what you see is several layers red on top.”
Koury has been attending Fine Arts at the Magnolia in Lakeland for the past five years. He participated in this year’s show last weekend. He loves the indoor art show because of how well his artwork sells there, especially with it being indoors during the hot and humid summer when outdoor shows are otherwise unfeasible, he said. He also loves the camaraderie among his fellow artists and art buyers.
“I love people,” he said. “I love talking about artwork and what I do. Honestly, I love to see the other artists, but the real icing on the cake is being able to talk to other buyers and people who are art lovers who come to look.”
Koury was one of the several dozen artists who attended Fine Arts at the Magnolia on Saturday and Sunday. The annual indoor art show showcases artists and craftsmen from across the state. Many of them, like Koury, are local Lakeland residents.
Greg Jones was another Lakeland artist who has been attending the show ever since it started more than five years ago. His artwork proves to be quite eclectic, if not sometimes eccentric. Often, he will start with a random item like an air conditionerfilter and work his way from there, to where, he usually does not know.
“To reach inside and free the creative child within each of us is basically what may art is about,” he wrote in his handout flyer. “I seldom know what direction the work will take. I simply follow paths through the woods as I did as a child growing up.”
His unique approach to art has allowed his artwork to win more than 1,200 awards in art competitions around Florida, with him receiving more than 100 Best of Show Awards. He loves traveling and sharing his art, but he also appreciates being able to attend local shows like this in his hometown.
“It is a nice quaint little indoor show that does well in the summertime,” Jones said. “It is a chance for me to sell some of my smaller items that I do not take to the outdoor shows, because for the outdoor shows, it is for awards. I keep coming back because if the sales. They are pretty good. Probably I see a lot of my friends here in town. My family and friends love to come here.”
Betsy Bohrer is the local artist who started the show more than five years ago. After being forced to cancel last year’s show, she was thrilled to reunite with her fellow artists and share their love of art.
Bohrer is a mixed media artist who loves to combine the themes of nature and femininity, especially motherhood, often being inspired by her own experiences.
“I think about the layers in life and how things are not perfect all the time or permanent,” she said. “So when I am roofing and tearing paper, it is the non-permanence of things and I am repurposing it into the adaptation of living. So they are about motherhood or the connection to the earth and rejuvenation.”
The only thing she loves more than creating and sharing her work is appreciating the artwork of others, which is why she started her indoor show.
“We are very much like a family,” she said. “These artists are supportive of each other, and the show, and the community has been amazing, she said. I love the show. It is my show. I created it. I would have to say that I have been painting for 35 years, and this show has been my opus. So I love this show because of the smallness of it, the time of year, and it is community-oriented with the family. That is what makes me love it so much.”
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office Traffic Unit investigated a
two-vehicle crash in the intersection of US Hwy 27 and Cypress Gardens Blvd. in
Winter Haven last night (Monday, August 23, 2021) that resulted in two
fatalities.
Around 6:35 p.m., the PCSO ECC received 911 calls and
several units responded to the scene, including PCSO deputies, Winter Haven
Police Officers, and Polk County Fire Rescue. Upon arrival, the first
responders located 45-year-old Tanya Chewning of Auburndale and her 13-year-old
grandson, Curtis Handshoe (also of Auburndale) deceased inside a 2008 blue
Honda Civic.
The occupants of the other vehicle, a 2020 white Jeep Renegade, had minor
injuries and were transported to local hospitals. That driver, 44-year-old
Tiffany Liles of Lake Wales, was heading southbound on US Hwy 27 in the center
lane with her one-year-old granddaughter in the Jeep when the crash occurred.
Chewning was stopped at the traffic light on Cypress Gardens
Blvd in the left turn lane to head north onto US 27. When the signal for
traffic to turn left (north) onto US 27 turned green, Chewning proceeded
forward and entered into her turn, crossing the southbound lane of 27. Liles’
traffic light was red at the time, but she failed to stop, and she struck
Chewning’s vehicle on the driver’s side.
The investigation is ongoing. Curtis Handshoe was a student at Stambaugh Middle School in Auburndale. The roadways in that area were closed for approximately four hours.
On Sunday, August 22, 2021, PCSO detectives arrested 57-year-old Joseph O’Connor of Winter Haven following a neighborhood disturbance that lead to two deputies’ patrol cars being rammed. According to the preliminary investigation and witness statements, shortly before 2:00 p.m., O’Connor drove a white Dodge pick-up truck into the yard of a residence in the Schalamar Creek Golf and Country Club in unincorporated Lakeland, damaging the sprinkler system. The homeowner called the Sheriff’s Office. When the first deputy arrived and attempted to make contact with the suspect, O’Connor sped away. With his emergency lights and sirens on, the deputy followed O’Connor and attempted to make another traffic stop. O’Connor stopped at the intersection of Alpine Circle and Armitage Place, but when the deputy approached his truck, he again fled. Due to the area’s residential and golf cart traffic, deputies stopped following O’Connor, and called additional units, including the agency’s helicopter, to respond. O’Connor was located in his truck parked on Champion Drive. Deputies maneuvered two marked patrol vehicles, one in front of the pick-up truck and one at the rear, to prevent O’Connor from fleeing again. O’Connor then tried to flee again by ramming the patrol vehicle in front of his truck and then backing into the one behind him. When O’Connor realized he wasn’t able to drive away, he yelled at the deputies, “Get the F*** out of here” and “Just F*** shoot me.” While still sitting in his truck, O’Connor grabbed a hunting knife and threatened the deputies. He then dropped the knife in the floor of the truck and rammed the patrol vehicles again. Deputies then used several less than lethal techniques (Taser, pepper spray, and bean bag rounds) to remove O’Connor from the pick-up truck. He was safely taken into custody. “This was a dangerous situation that put the neighborhood and my deputies in jeopardy. I’m proud of my deputies for their quick action and for taking this fleeing felon into custody before he hurt or killed someone.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff O’Connor was arrested and charged with:
Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer (2-counts) (F1)
Burglary of an Occupied Residence (F2)
Fleeing to Elude (2-counts) (F3)
Resisting a Law Enforcement Officer with Violence (11-counts) (F3)
Criminal Mischief (2-counts) (F3)
Resisting a Law Enforcement Officer without Violence (M1)
Trespassing with Larceny (M1)
Criminal Mischief (M2)
Failure to Obey a Lawful Order (M2)
O’Connor’s criminal history includes three misdemeanor arrests for Battery, Domestic Violence Battery, and DUI.
