Officials Lose Their Cool Over Pond Stunt

The ol’ flipped-police-cruiser-in-the-pond gag less than amused fire and rescue officials last week.

“Take pictures,” a male worker inside said, grinning after the Bayshore Boulevard landscaping and nursery business was asked to remove the outdoor display.

Dunedin Fire Division Chief Bill McElligott said it was an endangering distraction to passersby. He thinks it caused a man riding his bike in the vicinity of the business to become distracted and hit his head on a pole, sending him to the trauma center.

“We’re not commenting,” a woman inside the business, owned by Nice Green & Beautiful Landscaping Inc., said July 2. 

The fake police cruiser could be seen from the roadside on the Saturday of the Dunedin Orange Festival, submerged hood-first with lights flashing in a small display pond outside the business. It appeared to have crashed through a wooden fence, and tire marks made it look like a driver braked too late.

Emergency personnel received an initial call, which proved to be a false alarm, but it drew attention throughout the day. People pulled over in their vehicles or walked by snapping cellphone pictures. Only when turning onto the corner of Michigan Avenue could onlookers see a sign reading, “It's not real.”

The display was removed by order of the City of Dunedin late July 2.

The following morning, news broke about a Hernando County Sheriff's deputy who died after a high-speed pursuit crash.