A Gainesville man lost his pants Monday as he ran from a Gainesville Police Department officer who suspected he had stolen merchandise from Florida Bookstore, and it took the assistance of a K9 unit to help the police arrest him.
GPD Officer Ryan Foster responded to a burglar alarm at Florida Bookstore, 1614 W. University Ave., around 11:55 p.m. Monday and saw a man emerging from the back of the store with his arms full of clothes, said Cpl. Angelina Valuri, GPD public information officer.
The man, 26-year-old Travis William Pavlovski, is suspected to have broken into the store through skylights and had about $4,300 worth of clothing, including sports jerseys, in his arms.
He threw the clothes and fled from Foster on foot.
As Pavlovski tried to jump over a fence, Foster latched onto his shorts, Valuri said. Pavlovski was able to remove his shorts and run away from Foster naked.
About 40 minutes later, GPD received a complaint about a naked man in an apartment laundry room at 1530 NW 4th Ave.
Officers responded to the scene and struggled with the still-nude Pavlovski, but they were only able to get one handcuff on him before he got away from them again.
Harry Young, a K9 unit officer, and Argos, a police dog, arrived at the scene.
After Pavlovski refused to listen to officers' commands to stop, Vauri said, Argos was allowed to pursue him.
Argos bit Pavlovski on the leg and right shoulder, after which he was arrested.
He received medical attention for the bites and was taken to the Alachua County Jail, where he was booked Tuesday morning.
According to the jail website, Pavlovski was charged with the following: burglary and grand theft with damage of over $1,000, both first-degree felonies; escape, a second-degree felony; resisting an officer with violence, a third-degree felony; and resisting an officer without violence, a first-degree misdemeanor.
