VENICE -- Shoplifting charges have been dropped against an 89-year-old Venice resident who was accused of walking out of a local store with a box of diarrhea medicine stashed in his pocket.
George Lott was taken to jail in handcuffs June 28 from the Kash n' Karry on U.S. 41 Bypass.
The state attorney's office dropped the charges against him soon after speaking to Lott's doctor.
Lott's wife, who entered the store with him and was to meet him at the checkout counter, said he'd forgotten that he had put the box in his pocket.
She said her husband had suffered two strokes and was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
On Thursday, Lucille Lott said well-wishers keep making her husband relive a painful memory each time they call the Lott home for an update.
"I got two yesterday, and look how long it's been," she said.
The Venice Police Department, which took public criticism for the arrest, did not return a call for comment.
Lucille Lott denies that her husband ever tried to leave the store.
She said she still can't quite forgive the way he was treated by police and by the Kash n' Karry management.
"The worst part is, I could have been a block of wood standing there; nobody asked me a thing," she said. "I will not go there even if my life depended on it. And it's my favorite store."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004407300694
George Lott was taken to jail in handcuffs June 28 from the Kash n' Karry on U.S. 41 Bypass.
The state attorney's office dropped the charges against him soon after speaking to Lott's doctor.
Lott's wife, who entered the store with him and was to meet him at the checkout counter, said he'd forgotten that he had put the box in his pocket.
She said her husband had suffered two strokes and was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
On Thursday, Lucille Lott said well-wishers keep making her husband relive a painful memory each time they call the Lott home for an update.
"I got two yesterday, and look how long it's been," she said.
The Venice Police Department, which took public criticism for the arrest, did not return a call for comment.
Lucille Lott denies that her husband ever tried to leave the store.
She said she still can't quite forgive the way he was treated by police and by the Kash n' Karry management.
"The worst part is, I could have been a block of wood standing there; nobody asked me a thing," she said. "I will not go there even if my life depended on it. And it's my favorite store."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004407300694