Florida man with meth pipe steals tourist train, picks up passengers for wild ride — and announces it's his 'birthday': Cops
A Florida man celebrated his birthday on July 4 by stealing a tourist train in Key West, picking up passengers, and having a meth pipe in his possession, according to police.
Citing the arrest report, WPLG-TV said police received a call just before 11:30 a.m. Friday that a man had stolen the Conch Tour Train.
The arrest report states Winslow picked up 'two random passengers' while driving the trolley.
Police officers responded to the Conch Tour Train Depot, where they were informed that one of the trackless trolley trains had been hijacked.
According to the arrest report, police said Jonathan Patrick Winslow of Big Torch Key — who indeed was celebrating his 57th birthday — left his Kia vehicle in the train depot's parking lot while it was still running "with rock music playing on the radio."
A train depot employee told police that Winslow claimed to have worked at the tourism business years ago and wanted to take a tour of the train, WPLG said, citing the arrest report.
However, the worker reportedly told officers that Winslow got into the trolley and drove away.
The employee was "confused" but allegedly told investigators that perhaps Winslow had received permission to drive the train. As you might imagine, that wasn't the case.
Tour company employees reportedly told police that GPS could track the train — and it turns out that it was on the move in downtown Key West.
The arrest report states Winslow picked up "two random passengers" while driving the trolley.
Police said officers were able to track down the stolen Conch Tour Train at the massively popular Southernmost Point Buoy tourist attraction and stop it before anything tragic occurred during the wild ride.
The arrest report states that Winslow "exhibited rapid speech and appeared excited" while officers informed him that he would be arrested.
Police allegedly claimed Winslow told them that he merely "borrowed" the train. WPLG reported that Winslow told officers that he previously worked at the Conch Tour Train Depot; police said he stressed that "today is his birthday."
Winslow was arrested and transported to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Key West jail facility.
Authorities said a methamphetamine pipe was discovered in Winslow's pocket when a corrections deputy searched him at the jail, according to the arrest report.
Winslow allegedly asserted, "It's a weed pipe." However, investigators disagreed.
Winslow was charged with burglary, grand theft auto, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Jail records show Winslow was being detained on a $60,000 bond.
RELATED: Man once tried to outrun police on a mule — now he's in jail for allegedly weaponizing a raccoon
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DeSantis: 'You could do a complete upheaval of the deep state'
There’s no question that the second Ron DeSantis stepped into office as the governor of Florida, the sunny state was changed for the better.
Whether it was standing up to incessant political pressure during COVID, getting woke ideology as far away from schools as possible, or even stripping Disney of its self-governing status, DeSantis has proven to be the governor that Florida needed to get things done.
Glenn Beck sat down with the beloved governor to find out just how he does it (and how he might do the same on the federal level).
DeSantis says he was told not to “make waves,” so rather than listen to that advice, that’s exactly what he did. You don’t turn Florida into the leading red state in America without ruffling a few feathers.
When COVID hit, DeSantis knew he didn’t want to turn into a tyrannical dictator and control the public’s every movement. He says, “They didn’t elect some health bureaucrat to run Florida. This Fauci-ism is not right, it’s not working, and there’s a better path.”
And man, was he right.
Not only did DeSantis not “let Florida collapse under the weight of Fauci-ism,” Florida thrived under it. While all the blue states up north began to see their populations decrease, Florida saw the opposite and became the fastest-growing state in the country as of 2022.
Glenn asks DeSantis if he could do what he did in Florida in the entire country — hypothetically, if he were to run for president.
DeSantis responds, “If you talk about at the federal level, there are certain things that may be easier, actually, to do. With the vast administrative state, if you have a determined executive who knows how to use those levers of power, you could do a complete upheaval of the deep state.”
If you’re asking us, a complete upheaval of the deep state sounds like a pretty good plan and a good campaign to run on.
But until we find out what DeSantis’ plan for the future is, you can pick up a copy of his new book, "The Courage to Be Free," and find out a little more about his past.
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Florida snipers provide cover for rescue divers searching for mother and son in alligator-filled pond
Florida snipers provided cover for rescue divers who jumped into an alligator-infested pond to search for a missing mother and son.
80-year-old Nieves Matos and her 56-year-old son Mario Laza were traveling along the Florida Turnpike in West Miami-Dade this past Friday when they lost control of their vehicle and careened into a detention pond just off the highway.
WSVN, a regional Florida news outlet, reported that the accident occurred just before noon and is likely the result of the driver losing control while attempting to negotiate the right curve on an exit ramp.
Good Samaritans who witnessed the accident jumped into the water to search for survivors of the accident.
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Alex Camacho said, “The vehicle lost control, overturned, driving off of the roadway into the pond. Dive teams from fire rescue and Miami-Dade Police did their search and rescue, and were able to rescue an adult female and adult male inside of the vehicle at the time.”
Police snipers arrive on the scene shortly after the accident to provide protection for rescue divers and other first responders as they searched the alligator-filled pond for survivors of the crash.
Footage from this past Friday’s event shows snipers lying on their stomachs with their rifles pointed at the waters as alligators swim around the pond.
Ms. Matos was eventually located and pulled from the water.
WESH-2, an Orlando-based NBC affiliate, reported that Laza, the 56-year-old son, passed away after a brief treatment period in the ICU.
People close to the mother and son’s family created a GoFundMe page to help cover the pair’s medical bills and the son’s funeral expenses.
This past week, it was reported that the victims of the condominium collapse that happened in Surfside, Florida, in 2021 drew closer to the end of their class-action lawsuit, as they reached a settlement totaling $1,021,199,000.
The settlement agreement was submitted to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who gave his preliminary approval to the settlement on Saturday at a court hearing that followed around-the-clock negations.
The more than $1 billion settlement was reached less than a month before the one-year anniversary of the tragic building collapse that claimed the lives of more than 90 people.
The Surfside condo collapse victims received preliminary approval for a settlement of over $1 billion
A settlement of more than $1 billion for the victims of the tragic 2021 condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida has been reached.
The Miami Herald reported that this past Friday that a team of lawyers representing family members of the dozens of people who died in the Champlain Towers South tragedy reached a settlement totaling $1,021,199,000.
The settlement agreement was submitted to Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman who gave his preliminary approval on Saturday at a court hearing that followed around-the-clock negotiations about a potential settlement.
The settlement was reached less than a month before the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.
“It’s a great result,” Hanzman said on Saturday. “This agreement appears to be a very reasonable compromise of the claims.”
The over one-billion-dollar agreement comes as a class-action settlement and as the defendants agreed to pay to resolve wrongful-death and personal-injury claims by the victims’ relatives. The defendants made no admission of wrongdoing and most of the payments to the plaintiffs are being covered through insurance coverage.
In the class-action plaintiff’s lawyers' 213-page settlement filing they wrote, “As this Court has noted, the collapse of the Champlain Towers South on June 24, 2021, in Surfside was a ‘black swan' event that devastated the community. The death and destruction caused by the collapse resulted in incalculable damage to so many individuals.”
The lawyers continued, “Remarkably, after months of rigorous, arm’s-length negotiations … more than two dozen potentially liable parties have agreed to an unprecedented settlement for an unprecedented event.”
Hanzman is expected to give final approval of the class-action settlement later this summer after a comment period and “fairness hearing” on June 23. Hanzman also plans to participate in a series of claims hearing in which relatives and representatives of victims who died or were injured in Champlain South’s collapse will be able to make a case for what their lives were worth. This process is expected to be arduous and emotional.
The class-action team’s co-chairs released a statement that said, “We are pleased to have finalized the settlments we reached with more than two dozen parties and their insurers.”
The statement continued, “We are grateful to Judge Hanzman, who fast-tracked this case to get it resolved in record time. We also recognize the efforts of the receiver Michael Goldberg and the mediator Bruce Greer and all of the members of the plaintiffs steering committee who worked tirelessly on this matter.”
A church in Florida held an LGBTQ+ conference for children 12 to 18
A church in Naples, Florida hosted an LGBTQ+ conference for children and young adults aged 12 to 18.
The event was held at the Naples United Church of Christ and was put on by the Collier County chapter of GLSEN. GLSEN is a national nonprofit organization that, according to its website, “was founded by a group of teachers in 1990” so that educators could “play key roles in creating affirming learning environments for LGBTQ youth.”
The organization focuses on “activating supportive educators” and conducts “extensive and original research to inform our evidence-based solutions for K-12 education.” According to its website, the group will “advise on, advocate for, and research comprehensive policies designed to protect LGBTQ students as well as students of marginalized identities.”
The conference’s Eventbrite page proclaimed that the event was a “one-day conference” that “will provide students with the opportunity to engage in LGBTQ-related issues facing them today while empowering them to be confident in all their identities.”
The church’s conference held a series of seminars featuring topics like “Forbidden Queer Literature,” “Political Action & Advocacy,” and “Inclusive Sex Education.”
GLSEN also hosted a “drag show from some of our local drag queens” and a panel discussion “with former high school students talking about life in the LGBTQ community after high school.”
The Post Millennial reported that there was some local concern about the event, especially since it appeared that many children attending the conference would be bused in directly from school without their parent’s knowledge.
According to a spokesperson for the local school district, Collier County Public Schools (CCPS), the school’s facilities may not be used as “transit points for the pickup and drop-off of students for this event.”
Florida’s Voice reported that the conference’s young attendees were asked to enter their pronouns and provide other personal information prior to registering for the event.
The spokesperson said, “The District was never informed nor contacted about this event. CCPS is not a sponsor of the event, which is being held at a private facility. CCPS also neither authorized nor approved the transportation of CCPS students to and from district school sites by the event organizers. Any inference to the contrary is fully rejected by CCPS.”
The spokesperson continued, “To this end, CCPS has spoken with the event organizer and explained that the information on the registration form, and any associated flyer must be immediately corrected to reflect that CCPS is not a co-sponsor nor will it allow its school sites to be used as transit points for the pickup and drop-off of students for this event.”
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