A police dog bit a man after he stole a cash register from a seafood market, ran from police and hid under a car early Sunday morning, Gainesville Police said.
Frankie Paul Sturges, 54, of Gainesville, is accused of breaking into T & J Seafood, at 5015 NW 34 Blvd., according to an arrest report.
Moments before stealing the market’s cash register, he was accused of stealing a backpack from a car, the report said.
A witness told police he saw a middle-aged man in a grey shirt looking into his unlocked car in the restaurant parking lot. His backpack was missing, so he confronted Sturges in the parking lot, the report said. Sturges returned the backpack with all of the belongings inside.
Sturges later found a knife with the blade missing in the parking lot, the report said. He used it to try to pry open the door to the seafood restaurant to no avail.
Sturges pushed on the door’s window, broke part of the door frame and reached in to unlock the door, police said. He couldn’t figure out how to open the black cash register, so he took the entire thing. The register was worth $800 and was carrying at least $200, police said.
The officer saw Sturges leaving the parking lot on a dark-colored bicycle but didn’t notice the cash register, the report said.
Sturges dropped the bike and started running, the report said. He later flung the cash register over a fence and ran around to get it.
He found a bottle of Tequila Exotico on a nearby porch and grabbed it, police said. Sturges ran with the bottle and the cash register before stashing them and hiding under the car, on the 5000 block of Northwest 30 Terrace, about two minutes away from the restaurant, the report said.
An officer found the abandoned bicycle nearby and sent a police dog to follow the trail. The dog found the tequila bottle and cash register, the report said.
Police found Sturges hiding under the car and told him to come out, the report said. But he refused to come out and was bit by the dog on his left arm and hand.
Sturges told police about how he got the register and tequila and said he panicked when he heard the dog, the report said.
Sturges is being held in the Alachua County Jail on charges of grand theft and resisting an officer. His bond is set at $30,000, according to the jail.
