You Gotta Love Tampa!

My first morning back in Tampa, I pick up the Trib to check out the local news. An interesting article catches my eye. It seems that a Tampa man asked some police officers who were checking out a local burglary to 'test his crack pipe' to make sure he was being sold real crack. And, always happy to help out a citizen in distress, they did.

TAMPA - One minute a pair of Tampa police officers were trying to catch a couple of loose dogs Tuesday morning, the next they were fielding a unique request from a man.

Would they test his crack pipe to make sure he was getting the real thing? According to an arrest affidavit, Phillip Williams wasn't convinced he was being sold actual crack cocaine. So about 11:15 a.m., he approached Officers Wayne Easley and Gary Filippone to verify he was getting real drugs.

He was.

The officers tested the pipe, which, sure enough, had cocaine residue. Williams, who is listed on jail records as a security worker at MacDill Air Force Base, was arrested.

Easley and Filippone were investigating a burglary at 1304 E. 15th Ave. They had arrested someone and were trying to corral the dogs when Williams walked up, crack pipe in hand, the affidavit states.

He showed them a yellow house where he said people were doing drugs, and he kept asking the officers to test his glass pipe. He told them he didn't think he was getting real crack, according to the affidavit.

When Williams grabbed Easley's police vest, the officers put him in handcuffs. Then they obliged his request. The pipe was booked into evidence. Williams was taken to Orient Road Jail, where he was charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

Go Tampa!