[PHOTO CREDIT: Lake Legal News]
[Original Publish Date: 05/21/21]
EUSTIS, Florida — The community came in force Friday for Eustis Police Department’s “Tip a Cop” to benefit an EPD event scheduled for Thursday.
Chief Craig Capri, along with Captains G. Winheim and K. Toler, Sgt. B. Jenkins, Cpl. L. Brown and Officers J. Allred, D. Perez and M. Freitas worked the lunch rush at Tillie’s Tavern & Grill, 12 E. Magnolia Street to raise money for “Bike Ride with the Eustis Police Chief” scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
The money raised Friday will benefit Thursday’s event; elementary aged children are invited to meet Capri at Eustis Police Department at 3:30 p.m. with their bicycles and take a ride with him down to Ferran Park where they can visit different vendors and get properly fitted for a bicycle helmet, Allred said. Children without bicycles are also welcome to attend, EPD asks they meet at Ferran Park.
The officers put in work taking orders, running food and even bussing tables while shadowing a Tillie’s waitress. Most customers tipped the police officers and their waitress and at the end of the event, each of the five waitresses donated their own tips to the cops, Tillie’s Tavern & Grill District Manager Tanya Catoe said.
Catoe said it was an easy decision to help the cause when Allred approached them earlier this month. “He came to us with the idea, and we said, absolutely,” she told Lake Legal News.
More than $1,100 was raised Friday, with several $100 bills dropped in the tip bucket the officers took turns carrying around. Many people well-known around Eustis were in attendance, including City Manager Ron Neibert and City Commissioners Willie Hawkins and Nan Cobb — the city’s two newest commissioners.
_______________________________
Our Editor-in-Chief, Marilyn M. Aciego, began writing for Lake Legal News in 2010. Born and raised in Lake County, she is a graduate of Umatilla High School and Lake-Sumter State College. She started her journalism career at LSSC, where she was editor of both student publications, The Angler and The Odyssey. Her professional career began at the Daily Commercial in 2004 where she covered cops and courts the majority of her time there until she left in 2009. Currently, along with being Editor-in-Chief of Lake Legal News, she is the Florida bureau chief for an international media organization. She has made more than two dozen appearances on live national television, including Nancy Grace and the Greta Van Susteren show, along with her appearance on Evil Twins. Contact her with breaking news, tips, and feedback by sending an e-mail to 352Tips@gmail.com. You can also contact us on our Facebook page — and make sure you “Like” and “Follow us” there. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Whicher]
