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The two suspects were heard by a deputy who happened to be nearby.
By DUANE BOURNE
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2003
SPRING HILL -- Hernando Deputy Brandon Ross was taking a report for an investigation shortly after midnight Thursday when he heard a "loud bang."
Standing in the driveway of a home on Pillar Avenue in Spring Hill, he saw a black pickup truck drive from the commotion. It was just doors away.
Ross called for backup. The Ford Ranger was headed north along Pillar Avenue. The passenger, a man later identified as Isaac Hackler, 20, was hanging out of the passenger-side window.
The deputy heard three more loud bangs.
When Ross pulled the truck over at Roble Avenue and Killian Street, he looked in the bed of the truck. There, he reported, lay a silver Easton baseball bat.
Hackler and 19-year-old Ryan E. Amsler admitted using the bat to smash the mailboxes, Ross said.
Both men were arrested and taken to Hernando County Jail. They were charged with criminal mischief.
"(Ross) just happened to be at the right place at the right time," said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joseph Paez.
-- Duane Bourne covers law enforcement and emergency services in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com.