July 27, 2010

Off-duty Fla. deputy thwarts robbery

The cop took off after the suspect and held him on the ground at gunpoint

Naples Daily News

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — An off-duty Collier County sheriff's deputy held a strong-arm robbery suspect at gunpoint Saturday night in the parking lot of a south Fort Myers Target store until Lee deputies arrived.

Around 5:45 p.m., Bette McLean, 64, was walking to her car in the parking lot in the 15000 block of San Carlos Boulevard when she felt a tug on her purse, according to an arrest report. She fell to the ground and was dragged, but the man, later identified as Neil D. Maltezos, 34, didn't get her purse, reports said.

A witness heard McLean yell for help. He said he saw her on the ground yelling and a man pulling at her purse.

A sport utility vehicle pulled up and the driver, off-duty Collier Cpl. Douglas Leffin asked what happened. Leffin then took off after Maltezos and held him on the ground at gunpoint near Rib City.

Lee deputies responded and arrested Maltezos.

Leffin, a 23-year veteran of the Collier County Sheriff's Office, is assigned to the agency's Safety and Traffic Enforcement Bureau.

Leffin's actions are permitted by agency policy, Collier County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten said in an e-mail. Although Leffin did not actually make the arrest, Batten
pointed out according to state law, private citizens do have the common law right to arrest a person who commits a felony in their presence.

"We encourage our deputies to act in a law enforcement capacity if someone's life is at risk or if they feel there is an imminent threat of injury to someone," Batten wrote.

Maltezos, of Fort Myers, remained Monday in Lee County Jail pending posting of $10,000 in bonds.