Photo: Key West Police Department
Florida police attempting to find two men who set fire to a Christmas tree and damaged a beloved landmark early New Year’s morning received help from an unlikely source: a local bartender who recognized the suspects after they didn’t leave a tip.
Around 3 a.m. on Jan. 1, two men in Key West lit a Christmas tree on fire in front of theSouthernmost Buoy, a famous local landmark that marks the southernmost point in the continental United States, according to theKey West Police Department.
The flames badly damaged the large concrete bouy, and police quickly posted apictureof it on social media to see if the community could help find the suspects.
“[Police and firefighters] arrived to find the charred embers of the Christmas tree. The fire left a burned scar on the Southernmost Buoy that was about three feet wide and seven feet tall,” the department said in astatement.
But what the two vandals didn’t know was their act was caught on multiple cameras (there’s even a 24-hour webcam pointed at the buoy that can be viewed any timeonline).
“Then, while one man checked the surroundings, the other lit the tree, and a fire raged. One man took one last photo of the blazing tree before the two ran out of camera range,” they added.
But the police would get a lead on their suspects with the help of a local bar,Irish Kevin’s, when a bartender there recognized one of the men for not leaving a tip after ordering drinks earlier that night.
“I knew immediately that I had served him and that he had used a card, so his name would be on the slips,” bartender Cameron Briody told theMiami Herald.
Daylin Starks, Irish Kevin’s general manager, found security footage that reportedly showed the suspects at the bar.
“We could follow them the whole time, in and out of the bar,” she said. “We could see them getting rejected from all the girls they were trying to hit on.”
Police lateridentifiedthe suspects as David B. Perkins, Jr., 21, of Leesburg, Florida, and Skylar Rae Jacobson, 21, of Henrietta, Texas.
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The city began repairs to the famous buoy on the same day as the fire, and the damage is estimated to be over $5,000.
TheHeraldreported that the men each face a felony charge of criminal mischief with more than $1,000 in damage.
Starks said she hopes the men can learn from the incident.
“We’ve all been that age and made dumb mistakes and we just learn from them,” she told theAssociated Press. “So I hope that’s what they do is learn from the mistake.”
source: people.com
