‘I’m cracking this beer, OK?’: Florida man asks police if he can drink a beer during his arrest

PORT ORANGE, Fla. (TMX/Gray News) – A Florida man who was wearing sunglasses at night asked officers to let him crack open another cold one shortly before he was arrested.

The man had allegedly fired a gun during a dispute with a neighbor, police said.

The Port Orange Police Department said officers responded to a dispute between neighbors shortly before 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

Body cam video shared by the police department shows the complaining neighbor alleging that his neighbor drove by earlier, opening his window and “telling me he was going to shoot me.”

At that moment, a shot can be heard in the area.

“You see what I mean?” the complaining neighbor says. Several neighbors were outside at the time of the shot.

Officers followed the sound and found the suspect, Brett McPeek, outside in front of his residence.

“That’s him. I’m telling you,” a woman can be heard saying.

An officer directs McPeek to show his hands and stay where he is.

“I’m cracking this beer, OK?” McPeek said.

The officer asks if McPeek has any firearms, and he said no. The officer asks if there are firearms inside his house, and he said yes. Speaking over his radio, the officer said McPeek “has two beers in his hand.”

“This beer is cold, sir, and I wanna drink it,” McPeek said. “Come check me.”

The officer declined, and McPeek said, “Well I’m gonna drink this beer, is that cool?”

McPeek insists he’s “done nothing wrong.” He then complies with orders to keep his hands up and is arrested without incident.

According to police, McPeek was not in possession of the firearm when he was taken into custody, but a search warrant executed at his property turned up two handguns, one of which was a .38 Special revolver with a spent shell casing.

McPeek was booked into the Volusia County Jail with no bond on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm and using a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.

Copyright 2024 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. TMX contributed to this report.