Police report: Man hugs tree, resists arrest, gets arrested


A Florida man resisted arrest Thursday by hugging a palm tree after police confronted him, according to a Greenacres Department of Public Safety arrest report.

Homer Stacey, 50, has been charged with threatening an officer, resisting arrest and disorderly intoxication.

According to the report, Stacey was belligerent when police confronted him outside his home on Lancaster Drive after they heard reports of a disturbance. He said he was going to cause problems and get his friends to help. Shortly after this, a family member told the officer that Stacey had been drinking.

“Yeah, I’ve been drinking, so what?” Stacey said, according to the report. He went in his house and came back, yelling at the officer, who then said he would arrest him. Stacey attempted to leave and ignored the officer’s warnings. Stacey then proceeded to hug a palm tree, yelling, “You’re not going to [expletive] take me!”

The officer fired a stun gun to Stacey’s ribs, which forced him to let go of the tree. He then tried to tackle the officer, but another officer kicked him so that he fell. According to the report, as Stacey was handcuffed and taken into the patrol car, he told the officer, “If you take these cuffs off me, I’m going to kill you!”

Stacey also complained to the officer that he didn’t have medicine he needed for seizures; he was taken to JFK Medical Center before being taken to jail.