Cameras are everything. The institution will move at the speed of the evidence. If you have the evidence, the institution moves fast. If you do not, the institution waits. Estelle drove May to her cousin's house in Bradenton at 7:32 a.
M. On Saturday morning. She kissed May goodbye. She told her she would be back by lunch. She kissed me goodbye in the driveway and said three words.
Be the door. Then she drove home and sat in the kitchen with her hand on the spice rack switch. I walked out to the Jeep at 7:55 a. M. I opened the hood.
I waited. The Sentinel cart turned onto Bayou Drive at 8:02 a. M. On a Saturday morning in late May. I was at the front of my Jeep Wagoneer with my hood up and a 14 millimeter wrench in my hand.
I had been there for 7 minutes. The morning was already warm in the low 80s with that thick Florida humidity that always announces a thunderstorm by midafternoon. A mockingbird was working through its full repertoire from the live oak in my front yard. I could hear the second van at the back of the community click its radio twice. Drusen Crane's standard signal that contact was imminent.
The Sentinel cart had four men. Three were riding, one was driving. They were all wearing the Navy uniform with the patch that at any distance over 6 ft looked indistinguishable from a Manatee County Sheriff's deputy. They had batons on their right hips. They had tasers on their left.
They had what appeared to be handcuffs and pepper spray on the back of their belts. The driver pulled into my driveway without permission. He stepped off the cart and walked up to me with a clipboard. Mr. Tolmage, Sentinel Estate Protection. We are here to execute HOA citation enforcement order number 17.
Please put down the wrench and step away from the vehicle. I set the wrench on the fender. I did not step away. I kept my hands visible. Sir, I do not consent to your presence on my property.
Please leave sir. Under Bayou Pines's Estates HOA bylaw 14.3 we are authorized. Sir, there is no such authorization in Florida law. There is no such bylaw in the recorded Bayou Pines Estates declaration of covenants. I have read the document.