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Venice Police Investigating Altercation Involving Officers

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

VENICE - VENICE - VENICE - Two off-duty Venice police officers were involved in an altercation at a Sarasota County bar over the weekend, and for the second time in a month the Venice Police Department is conducting an internal investigation into the conduct of its officers.

The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office responded to a call from the manager of the Sarasota Ale House near Bee Ridge and Cattlemen roads late Saturday after he reported a fight.

Corey Quinlan, 26, a Venice patrol officer for more than a year, told deputies that he and his wife were "playing around when she tossed some ice water on him," according to the incident report. The water splashed on other patrons, Michael Paul Lynch, 39, of Sarasota and his wife, Shannon.

Quinlan said he left the bar and when he tried to come back in, the manager would not let him. He said he told the manager that he carried a gun and a badge and wanted to find his wife. The manager called police. What happened next is not clear because the sheriff's office report on the incident was vague and deputies never interviewed Lynch; he was gone before they arrived.

In the report, a woman said she was struck in the head as Lynch was attempting to strike another patron. She told deputies she did not want to press charges. No one was arrested or charged.

Lynch tells another story and he has told it at least twice to Venice police officials, after calling them when he and his wife returned home from watching the New England Patriots football game at the bar.

Quinlan and four or five other people "were drunk, bouncing around the place and yelling and screaming," during the Patriots game, Lynch said in an interview. Earlier, a few words were exchanged between the two groups. More words were exchanged after Quinlan's wife, Jamie Nelson, threw water at Quinlan and wet the Lynches' table.

"I told her to take her problems with her boyfriend outside," Shannon Lynch told a reporter. Then she says a man thrust a badge in her husband's face.

"I thought it was a fake badge," Michael Lynch said.

Shannon Lynch asked him for his name and badge number. The man was later identified as 25-year-old Brett Woodworth, a patrol officer with the department for less than a year.

Both men ended up shaking hands after Woodworth apologized, Lynch said. But as Lynch left the restaurant, he said another man in the group taunted him.

Lynch came back inside and that is when he accidentally hit the woman, he said.

Shannon Lynch said she contacted the Venice Police Department after leaving the restaurant early Sunday morning and reported "your drunk officers."

That call may have started the internal investigation.

"Somebody called the department," said Chief Julie Williams. "I'm not sure who talked to who; I'm not at that point. I have to interview everybody."

The bar scuffle comes on the heels of an internal investigation of an officer who accidentally shot his 5-year-old stepson at the department's firing range at Wellfield Park.

Staff writer Latisha Gray contributed to this report. Kim Hackett is a reporter for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

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