Skateboarder arrested in disturbance with Vero Beach mall security
Vero Beach FL Sept 23 2019
Deputies arrested a skateboarder who was causing a ruckus at a Vero Beach mall.
They came to the mall Tuesday on a disturbance call and made contact with Patrick Thompson, 23.
The suspect told officers that he was unaware that skateboarding wasn’t allowed inside the Indian River Mall, but was chastised by a security guard.
Thompson said after dismounting his board, the guard who he referred to as “Paul Blart” — after the 2009 Kevin James comedy of the same name — told him, “You’re going to jail, punk.”
The security guard had a different story: He told Indian River County deputies that Thompson had been “swearing” and causing a scene outside the food court. Several families with children were at the court, the report noted. One woman looked “disgusted,” read the arrest affidavit.
When a mother and child walked by during the deputies’ conversation with Thompson, he uttered the F-word, added the complaint.
The skateboarder was charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing and booked into the county jail on $1,000 bond.
