Man on pre-trial release arrested for stealing beer and attacking officer
BY JENNIFER CABRERA
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Calvin Davonti Smith, 27, was arrested early yesterday morning after allegedly stealing a beer from the Gate at 506 NW 13th Street and then fighting with the officer who arrested him.
A Gainesville Police Department officer was in the parking lot of the Gate at about 6:10 a.m. when he reportedly saw Smith walking out of the store with a beer; a store employee followed him and called out to the officer. When the officer made contact with Smith, Smith allegedly threw the beer at the officer and walked away. The officer ordered him to stop, and Smith allegedly turned around, raised his fists, got into a fighting stance, and said, “I will beat your ass.” While the officer continued to order Smith to stop, Smith allegedly continued to make threats to harm the officer. When the officer tried to detain him, Smith allegedly tried to put the officer into a headlock and grappled with him. The officer took him to the ground and held him until backup arrived. Smith was finally detained with the help of other officers and a civilian.
The store employee reportedly told the officer that after Smith grabbed a beer, he told him he could not sell it to him until 7:00 a.m., and Smith proceeded to walk out of the store with the beer.
Smith has been charged with petit theft and resisting arrest with violence. He has one local felony conviction but has an out-of-state criminal history between 2013 and 2017. He also had a warrant for failure to appear on charges of petit theft and resisting arrest without violence for a similar incident in which he allegedly stole a beer from Walgreens in April. His lawyer in that case requested a reduction in his bond, and the judge allowed him to be released on his own recognizance to the supervision of court services, including mental health treatment. Smith is being held without bond for failure to appear in the first case and on $15,000 bond in the most recent case.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Euthanasia…..
I’m telling ya, we have to clean out the gene pool !
At least cut their nuts off so they can’t breed
Did you bother to consider his story? Nah, of course not. Just cut off his nuts and/or kill him. Pathetic. Rather, just lame, since you have no notion of pathos and don’t know what it is.
A quick look through the records indicate that he had a custody issue at 21 and has had an alcohol problem since then. The only person he was every truly violent with was his father for “bothering” him (daddy/family issues?), and which “victim” declined to press charges against him. Ever since then, his only crimes have been drinking and driving or trying to steal a drink.
Ever consider that he might have had a history of abuse and neglect, turned to alcohol, lost custody of his child because of the alcoholism, and continued to spiral? Of course not, because you’re the ignorant judge, jury, and executioner.
Dude was so desperate to have a drink that he went into the store 10 minutes after it opened just to try to get ONE beer. Not a 12-pack, not cash. ONE beer. Then he WALKED out of the store. He WALKED away from the officer. He didn’t run, like some hardened criminal on the lam.
Do you have any concept of what an anxiety disorder is like? PTSD? Like having your wife die in your arms on Christmas Day because doctors refused to listen to her for three years before admitting they made a mistake, then EMTs accused her of overdosing, and then the cops arrest you only to be chastised by the Medical Examiner and told they were an embarrassment to their profession? Gosh, I do. And I turned to alcohol, too. Years later, I got help and recovered.
Career criminals deserve to be punished, for sure. Some should never walk the streets again. This guy just needs help, from a mental health system so overburdened that even someone who requests help is put on a waiting list for weeks if not months.
And you need help too, apparently.
Michael, I am sorry about your situation and everyone does have a different reason that led them to where they are. You have obviously done some research and know this man had a breaking point and has needed some intervention since then. But, please do not make it sound like he is innocent or justified because of his issues. 1) He stole 2) He couldn’t wait the few minutes until the store was able to sell beer to him and 3) Yes, he stopped when the officer told him to BUT “The officer ordered him to stop, and Smith allegedly turned around, raised his fists, got into a fighting stance, and said, “I will beat your ass.” While the officer continued to order Smith to stop, Smith allegedly continued to make threats to harm the officer.”. Smith did not stop and question what the officer wanted with him. He immediately became combative and threatening. Mental illness, alcoholic, etc. we all have issues and deal with things differently but those issues also don’t give us a free pass to square up to LEO in a parking lot and threaten them. Smith and Smith alone turned that citation into an arrest.
Jane Doe,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I’m not suggesting he’s innocent. He deserved and needed to be arrested (stopped). He was referred to mental health counseling at one point and didn’t show up. He doesn’t get a free pass, as far as I’m concerned.
Regarding him not asking what the officer wanted, or otherwise being uncooperative, I understand that too. When the officer who arrested me was finally castigated by the Medical Examiner, he tried to give me a ride home. I flipped him a bird without even looking at him. Distress is distress. But I wasn’t stealing anything, so I see what you’re saying.
Criminal behavior must be stopped, but I wish the mental health system was not so overburdened as to be unable to help folks like him in obvious distress. Society spends more money on locking people in cells, where they tend to learn more bad behavior, than on treatment where treatment is warranted.
MG, I wish for a lot of things, too. But you note this guy refused voluntary treatment. Long ago a majority of our society decided that asylums and similar facilities are cruel. We are left with the primary alternatives of incarceration or homelessness and the associated self medication. Maybe we should have gone with trying to improve the asylums instead.
Too bad the cop didn’t slam his face against the ground or something. That might be a real lesson. Same for the kid who attacked the corrections officer and broke his fingers.
Every patrol car should have a k9.
Mike, you sound very compassionate….we need more concerned compassionate people just like you to go to the court and tell the judge you’ll be responsible for him. Sounds like you are the one
That can save him with your life experience…This might be
Your mission from god. Will you
Save this neighbors’ life or let the
Mob here cut his nuts off? His nuts are in your hands now.
I do take responsibility for people like him, Mr. Pink. I do it every day. Your sarcasm aside, I present solutions to problems instead of just complaining about them. I hope maybe someday you can grow a pair and start helping as well. Cheers!
Mike, . You’re-the one that wants to save his nuts. Practice
What you preach mr compassionate.
Mr. Pink, there’s incomprehensibly obtuse. And then there’s you. Congratulations on reaching the next level.
Grow a pair? I assume you must mean moobs. (I’ll pass, thanks.) We need to help the citizens of Alachua county by incarcerating as many people committing serious crimes as possible. Yes, going into a business, grabbing stuff and running out is a serious crime.
By the way, Mr. Pink, my name is Michael, not Mike, in case you hadn’t noticed. Unless you want me to start referring to you as Pinkie Pie, I ask that you refer to me by my name. 🙂
(Actually, I’m bigger than that. I wouldn’t start doing to you like you do to me. But the request to call me by my name stands.)
Struck a nerve have I? Michael, you still need help…
Michael & Mike are the same.
No wonder you have so many problems. Please get your 2nd Vax booster to protect the public. Thanks. —-Oh, and wear your mask everywhere as an example to others.
The two are not the same. Idiocy always strikes a nerve with me, but I’ll get over it. I’ve never worn a mask and have no need for vaccination. You are a simple-minded troll. But I hope your day gets better so you can stop being so bitter.
you need to seek counseling!
I second the motion to cut his nuts off! His hands too! What a low-life scumbag! No value to society.