Memorial Day weekend in Key West is supposed to be about sunshine, cold drinks, and good memories. For one suburban Chicago man, it became something else entirely: a criminal record, a busted field sobriety test, some fence-related injuries, and enough charges to fill a very embarrassing rap sheet.
John Mack, 38, of La Grange, Illinois, was arrested Saturday after Key West Police Department officers say he climbed into an unoccupied police cruiser at the Key West Bight Marina and took it for a spin around the parking lot, all while allegedly under the influence of alcohol. The incident unfolded near Dante’s Key West Pool Bar and Restaurant on Caroline Street, where an officer was working an off-duty security detail, apparently keeping the peace at a pool bar that, on this particular Saturday, would not keep its own peace for long.
Surveillance footage captured the moment around 6:20 p.m. when Mack strolled out of the bar with two companions, stopped near the patrol vehicle, and then, seemingly on impulse, opened the door and got in. He then reportedly put the cruiser in drive and nearly struck two of those same friends he had been walking alongside moments before. Whether they remained his friends after that is unclear…