A St. Petersburg man was arrested in Gainesville Sunday night after police say he ran out of a local Chinese restaurant without paying for dinner.
Ryland Wilcox Rogers, 26, consumed about $24 of food and drinks at Szechuan Palace, 2031 NW 13th Street, but his debit card was declined, according to the report.
Jenny Chenz, the restaurant’s co-owner, said Rogers told her he had some more money at his nearby apartment, so she and another female employee followed him there.
Rogers made the two women wait on the second floor while he climbed the stairs to his room on the third floor, Chenz said.
Then, Rogers ran down another flight of stairs to bypass the women and ran away, she said.
Later, GPD Officer Daniel Abbott saw a man who matched Rogers’ description walking on Northwest 12th Street.
Abbott stopped the man and asked for identification. When Rogers handed Abbott his passport, he said “I don’t want to go to jail,” according to the report.
Then, he ran.
When Rogers tried to climb a 6-foot-tall privacy fence to get into a backyard on Northwest 13th Avenue, Abbott tackled him, according to the report.
Rogers began to thrash violently to avoid being handcuffed, and Abbott struck him and subdued him, according to the report.
Two other officers helped handcuff Rogers, and he was arrested at about 8 p.m. on charges of defrauding to obtain food and resisting an officer with violence.
He was taken to the Alachua County Jail, where he remained as of press time with bond of $6,000.
He told police that he’d intended to pay for his meal, but he said staff members were “eyeing” him and made him feel uncomfortable, according to the report.
Contact Kelcee Griffis at kgriffis@alligator.org.
