Officer to be cleared in erroneous arrest

A Tampa police detective was charged in an incident in Tarpon Springs. Officials now say he wasn't involved.

TARPON SPRINGS - Tampa police Detective Vincent Bush was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail Wednesday, fingerprinted and photographed like a criminal, stemming from an incident in Pinellas County.

It caused Bush, a 17-year veteran, to be suspended from his job. He was charged on a warrant with stealing a beer from a Tarpon Springs gas station and pushing a clerk to the ground when she tried to stop him.

But the misdemeanor charge of resisting a merchant was all a mistake, Pinellas authorities said Thursday evening.

In an abrupt reversal, Tarpon Springs police "learned today that there is good information that Mr. Bush was not involved in this incident," Tarpon Springs police Chief Mark LeCouris wrote in a brief letter to Tampa police Chief Bennie Holder.

"My department as well as the (Pinellas-Pasco) State Attorney's Office is investigating this matter," LeCouris added. "If a mistake has been made, let me assure you that all efforts will be made to correct it as soon as possible."

Charges against Bush, 42, will be dropped today, said Bruce Bartlett, an assistant state attorney in Pinellas County. Tampa police said they have taken Bush off suspension.

Bartlett said he will also likely charge the actual suspect in the case today, and look into why Tarpon Springs police gave his office incorrect information.

The odd confluence of events started earlier this week when Bush, who works in the fraud division, went to get a security clearance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to use the agency's information database.

As it does with every officer who uses the database, the FDLE checked Bush's background.

An arrest warrant from Pinellas County turned up.

When he found out about the warrant, Bush immediately went to the Tampa Police Internal Affairs department and turned himself in. He was booked into the county jail and released on $1,500 bail Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Bartlett learned about the case and asked one of his investigators to check it out.

"I was, quite frankly, somewhat surprised that a veteran police officer would do this," Bartlett said.

According to the Tarpon Springs police, the incident in question took place on Nov. 7, 2001.

A man entered a Shell gas station around 1:20 a.m. and tried to buy a 24-ounce Budweiser.

Clerk Peggy Boggs told the man she could not sell beer after midnight. The man put the Bud back, but then grabbed a 12-ounce can of Budweiser from another cooler and put it in his pants pocket before heading toward his 1994 Jeep Cherokee.

Boggs confronted the man outside and tried to grab the beer from his pocket, but he slapped her hand away, took off a white T-shirt and used it to cover his license place.

When she tried to retrieve the beer again, he pushed her to the ground and told her that if she touched him again he would kill her. She pulled the shirt off the license plate before the Jeep pulled away and got his tag number. She later identified him from a drivers license photo, police said.

Tarpon Springs police Officer Jeff Gurney referred the case to the State Attorney's Office as a potential strong-arm robbery. Prosecutors decided not to press that charge but in May 2002 did issue a warrant for Vincent Bush's arrest on the charge of resisting a merchant.

Bartlett said the Jeep was Bush's, and that a man "known to Bush" was using the vehicle.

A look at the store's surveillance videotape clearly shows that Bush was not the man who got into the altercation, Bartlett said.

Bartlett said he is "disturbed" that the Tarpon Springs police had a copy of the videotape and didn't realize that the actual suspect looks different than Bush.

Tarpon Springs police said during the day Thursday that they knew nothing about Bush being a police officer until after his arrest. Thursday evening, they said they couldn't comment on the matter further because the investigation is still open.

Bush could not be reached for comment, but Tampa police spokeswoman Katie Hughes said he will return to work this week.

"It is unfortunate that this happened," she said. "There's some damage that has probably already been done."

- Staff writers Richard Danielson and Candace Rondeaux contributed to this report. Tamara Lush can be reached at (813) 226-3373 or at lush@sptimes.com

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