Police disarm man outside scrap yard

TAMPA -- Police said an officer investigating an unexplained death near a scrap yard Monday almost found himself explaining another one before he disrupted an encounter between a truck driver and a man armed with a loaded shotgun.

Police said the incident occurred around 10:45 a.m. near a scrap yard located at 4315 Alva St., where Tampa Police Officer David Weaver-Rogers was investigating an unrelated death. According to a Tampa Police incident log, here's what happened:

Truck driver Keith Cogdell was parked at the yard in his semitrailer truck. Amilcar Medina, 28, pulled up in a van behind the Cogdell's truck, hoping to grab some scrap metal from the yard.

Cogdell asked Medina to move the van so he could leave. Instead, Medina pulled out a box cutter.

Bystander Evans Brouette attempted to interfere and also was threatened with the blade before summoning the nearby officer to the scene. 

Meanwhile, Medina reached into his vehicle, grabbed a hand-held pump shotgun and cocked it. Weavers-Rogers drew his gun, too, and ordered Medina to drop his weapon and the officer held him at gunpoint until backup arrived.

Once arrested, Medina, who records show has previous arrests for robbery and was previously acquitted of an attempted murder charge, told detectives he wasn't going back to jail, then began bashing his face into a window and cage separating the back seats of the police cruiser from the front. He also spit on another officer.

Jail records show Medina was charged with obstructing or opposing an officer without violence, battery, being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felony aggravated assault with a firearm. He remains at the Orient Road Jail. Bail was set at $12,500.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer