Sometimes things don’t go quite as you’d planned. Then again, planning can be overrated. Von Moltke’s observation that no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy won’t get many arguments from anyone who’s ever faced an opponent in a contest more involved than a game of kickball. But just because a plan goes awry doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your noodle. Provided, of course, that your particular noodle hasn’t been baked more than your aunt Sally’s arid Thanksgiving turkey. And from miamiherald.com’s account of Cedrick Mitchell’s recent escapades, we’d guess his noodle is mighty dry and crusty . . .
Mitchell was up to no good last night at one of the Florida Gulf coast’s most luxurious lodging facilities.
At about midnight, Cedrick Mitchell barged into a room at the Royal Motel in Bradenton. He asked the two men inside for pills.
When they said they had none, Mitchell pulled a handgun from his waistband and demanded “everything you got,” said Bradenton police Capt. Warren Merriman.
The men began to fight. During the scuffle, Mitchell dropped his gun and one of the victims pepper-sprayed him in the face.
The capsaicin facial treatment was enough to send Mitchell packing. But that gun he dropped must have held some kind of special, sentimental value for him. Whatever the reason, he decided that he just had to get that gat back so he went back to the motel room and offered to buy the gun back for $40 from the same two dudes he tried to rob only a few minutes earlier.
Mitchell was pepper-sprayed in the face again and ran away.
The men called 911. One of the officers at the scene spotted Mitchell, who ran away again. Officers chased him and he was arrested, Merriman said.
Cedrick’s had a fairly extensive history with the Florida penal system including convictions for battery, petit theft and robbery. He’s now living on the tab of the taxpayers of Manatee County in a holding facility after being charged with armed home invasion and resisting an officer. He’s probably lucky he isn’t sleeping with the fishes.