Digest

Police: Arrested man asks bizzare questions in cruiser

By TIMES STAFF
Published August 15, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY

Justin Callahan sat handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser Monday night on his way to jail. New Port Richey police say he then made these statements:

First, Callahan asked the uniformed officer who had just arrested him: What did he do for a living?

Second, Callahan told the officer he thought he was in Rochester, N.Y.

Third, Callahan said: "I built this city."

Police don't have any Breathalyzer results or field sobriety tests to indicate whether Callahan was intoxicated. He refused both tests.

But what police do have, they say, is a pattern of bizarre and dangerous behavior Callahan is accused of that night on U.S. 19.

It started when a witness reported a road rage incident about 9:46 p.m. It was Callahan, driving a black Ford truck, who cut motorists off and "gave them the finger," said Assistant Police Chief Darryl Garman.

Callahan cut off and chased a white van, police say, and tried to ram a witness' vehicle.

When police pulled over Callahan and asked how much he had been drinking, he refused to say. "You figure it out," he told the officer, according to a police report. The officer said he found an open bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon in the truck.

Callahan, 29, of 14301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in Tampa, was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence. He was released on $250 bail. 

NEW PORT RICHEY

Escapee accused of punching deputy

Clayton Chancey Weissing punched a sheriff's deputy in the face, authorities say, then ran from the deputy and a couple of drug charges.

His escape lasted all of 10 days.

Weissing, 19, of Boca Raton, turned himself in just after midnight Tuesday and was arrested on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled drug without a prescription and resisting arrest without violence.

According to a sheriff's report, a deputy investigating drug sales Aug. 4 at the Value-Lodge on U.S. 19 saw Weissing. The deputy said Weissing pulled out money wrapped around a bag of pills that contained Xanax. Weissing wouldn't say if he had a prescription.

When the deputy tried to arrest him, the report said, Weissing tried to grab the drugs, punched the deputy, then ran. But police dogs and a helicopter could not find him. The deputy spoke to Weissing's father to persuade the defendant to turn himself in.

Weissing remained in jail late Tuesday, held in lieu of $13,250 bail.

ZEPHYRHILLS

Deputies: Man struck pregnant woman

Slapping and pushing the woman pregnant with his child was just the start of John Spencer Bennett's problems, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

But then he took off running from the deputy who came looking for him, according to sheriff's reports, and that deputy found marijuana in Bennett's pants pocket.

The result: Bennett was arrested Monday on charges of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, resisting arrest without violence, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

The victim, who is eight months pregnant and was not identified in the report, said they were arguing when Bennett struck her in the right temple. Witnesses said Bennett then pushed her down to the ground.

Bennett, 27, of 4853 20th St., was in the county jail late Tuesday, held in lieu of $6,500 bail.

[Last modified August 14, 2007, 21:40:47]