They made out in the back of a patrol car. The police officer paid the price.
The backseat of a car has been a popular “make-out” zone since Henry Ford put his Model T on the road more than 100 years ago.
But the backseat of a patrol car? When you’re under arrest?
That’s a Florida Man and a Florida Woman story.
But this time, a Florida cop is the one paying the stiffer public price.
An internal affairs report obtained by the Washington Post Friday said that Fort Pierce police officer Doug McNeal was to be disciplined for allowing a couple he had arrested outside a Melbourne Walmart for shoplifting to “make out” in the backseat of his car. McNeal also let the couple smoke a cigarette in the back of the officer’s vehicle.
The man who was arrested and detained had a cigarette tucked behind his ear and a lighter in his pocket — all violations of police protocol.
McNeal was suspended for 20 days without pay for the couple’s steamy ride to the St. Lucie County Jail, TC Palm reported.
Blame the rise in passion partly on the influence of soul singer Barry White.
The late maestro of love songs and his sexy deep baritone has long been associated with “baby making” music.
But to our knowledge, this is the first time a department detective told another fellow cop in passing: “I think they’re making babies back there.” That’s what the internal affairs report says a female detective told McNeal as his car idled outside the jail while he filled out paperwork. The detainees’ body language left little doubt as to what was happening in the back seat.
According to a separate arrest report, Zachery Moellendick, 23, and Krista Leigh, 24, were arrested and charged with second-degree petit theft in stealing jewelry at a Walmart Superstore in St. Lucie County on July 14. Moellendick was also charged with trespassing.
The arrest report said the couple was transported to St. Lucie County Jail “without incident.”
But when McNeal transported the Melbourne, Florida, couple to the jail, White’s 1974 classic, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” hit the radio in his squad car. That’s when the couple began “making out” in the backseat, as captured by the officer’s dashcam, which was pointed from his rearview mirror toward the back of the vehicle.
Moellendick and Leigh weren’t even born during White’s heyday in the 1970s, but his music’s pulse endures. According to the internal affairs report, the kissing soon turned into mutual manual stimulation for some six minutes while McNeal wrote his arrest report in the front seat. Moellendick said he “got her off and she got me off,” according to Acting Deputy Chief Robert Ridle’s report, which was dated Dec. 31.
McNeal’s supervisors weren’t amused because they say not only did he permit the amorous session to go on in his vehicle, but he didn’t have them wear seat belts and Moellendick, who had crutches, was not handcuffed. Leigh was cuffed.
She’d asked McNeal if she could smoke outside the car while the paperwork was being filled out in the jail’s lot but McNeal told her, “No, just smoke in the car. They won’t let you smoke in the sally port,” according to the internal affairs report.
When confronted by another detective, McNeal said he was “fine with it” as far as the kissing and cuddling went, but denied seeing any sexual activity.
McNeal was suspended by the department for “conduct unbecoming” an officer, “neglect of duty” and “failure to follow policy.”
Suspects who are arrested have to wear seat belts in police vehicles and be properly restrained.
Clearly, getting one another off to a Barry White song while in police custody falls outside Florida’s statutes.
Moellendick, who pleaded guilty to petit theft and trespassing, and Leigh, who pleaded no contest to petit theft, were released from jail Thursday, TCPalm reported.
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 5:21 PM.
