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Longboat Key police offcer arrested after pointing gun

By Anthony Cormier

Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:53 p.m.

SARASOTA — A Longboat Key police officer was arrested after she pointed a gun at a woman and her children near Southside Elementary School Wednesday, an arrest report says.

Patricia Ann Beardsley, 51, was booked into the Sarasota County Jail Wednesday afternoon on a felony count of aggravated assault with a firearm.

The incident began as parents were picking up their children from Southside at 2:30 p.m. One mother, Jill Campbell, had three of her children in the car and pulled into Beardsley’s driveway to make a Y-turn.

When she did, officers say Beardsley approached the car with a 9 mm pistol, pointing it inside the vehicle and screaming at Campbell.

One of the woman’s children screamed and ducked into the back seat. When police arrived, Beardsley denied pointing a gun at the family, saying it was only a cell phone in her hand. Another witness, however, told officers that Beardsley had a gun.

Beardsley had called 911 moments earlier to report people parking in her driveway, the report says. Beardsley, a 10-year veteran of the force, has been suspended from duty.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090917/breaking/909179963?Title=Longboat-Key-police-offcer-arrested-after-pointing-gun