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Say what you will about our friends in the Conch Republic — life is never boring on Duval Street. Just ask the Key West beat cops, who spent their Sunday night chasing and tasering a local man armed with a ninja sword and a baseball bat outside the VFW hall.
Benjamin Moore, a 45-year-old Key Wester, is accused of throwing a chair at police officers, running away, and then going home to fetch his finest katana blade and Rawlings lumber, all so he could “break the legs” of a man who stole $160 from him.
The Key West Citizen reports the trouble began around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, when police found Moore outside the VFW hall, bleeding and complaining he’d been robbed. When the cops tried to calm him down, the Citizen reports, Moore charged back inside, grabbed a chair, threw it at the cops, and was promptly tasered.
A melee broke out as the cops tried to arrest Moore, but his relatives eventually restored calm and persuaded police to let them take him to a hospital for treatment. Alas, he jumped out of the car a few blocks away, police say.
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A few minutes later, the cops spotted Moore walking back toward the VFW, armed with a “ninja sword” and a baseball bat. He dropped the weapons “without incident” and was arrested.
Moore faces two felony charges of using a weapon while evading arrest, and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. And he never did get that $160 back.
