A shrimper crashed his boat. Police said they found him with drugs and ready to fight
A shrimp boat captain was arrested off Stock Island after police said he tried to fight Coast Guard officers who boarded his vessel after he ran aground and smashed into a channel marker sign.
Ron Ray Anderson, 39, of Merritt Island, ignored officers’ commands and charged at them with a fist, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s arrest report.
The officers said they had to spray him with Mace to take him into custody.
FWC officers said they arrived at about 2 p.m. Wednesday to find a large shrimping vessel aground near the green channel marker No. 5 near the Safe Harbor Marina Channel.
The vessel was listing to its port side about 100 yards outside the marked channel. At the entrance to the channel, the green metal marker No. 3 was bent over and broken facing the shrimp boat.
The Coast Guard officers were already onboard and wildlife agency found Anderson complaining his eyes were burning.
Anderson was arrested on a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence and misdemeanor charges of reckless operation of a vessel and leaving the scene of an accident
He was also arrested on misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug equipment including a hypodermic needle, a grinder and a glass smoking pipe, and a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
Anderson had three Tramadol pills, a painkiller that requires a prescription that he didn’t have, alongwith tourniquets and a small scale, police said.
Officers entered the captain’s cabin, where they found a spoon with a “crystalized substance” cooked onto it, police said.
Anderson didn’t give a clear answer when officers asked what was on the spoon, Fish and Wildlife said, but when asked about the marijuana, he said he did smoke it.
On Thursday, Anderson was locked up at the Stock Island Detention Center without bond. He has a court appearance set for May 13.
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