PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Shawn Middlebrooks and her husband were on their way home from dinner when they stopped to look for Christmas trees, only to be greeted at the door by an employee warning them of what they were about to witness.
“She said well you can come in but just with this disclaimer, there is a woman crawling around in the ceiling and police are trying to get here to come down,” Middlebrooks said.
37 year old Kristina Perkins was arrested after deputies say she was caught shoplifting and crawled through a duct into the ceiling .
Middlebrooks said deputies negotiated with Perkins for several hours to come out.
“Well she didn’t listen and they kept shooing us further and further away, as she was crawling away you could see the ceiling tiles boeing as she was walking across the ceiling tiles,” Middlebrooks said.
While it was a sight to see for those present, employees who work nearby told us what their initial reaction would have been, had they been there.
“It think they would have had some raccoons or rats or something up there, I would not expect it to be a human just randomly inside the ceiling trying to hide from the police.” said Marvin Syblles an employee at a restaurant in the shopping center.
Jerry Demillio who happened to be visiting his wife at work gave his reaction to the video after viewing it for the first time.
“Uh I don’t know, what did she think she planned on doing after this, just staying in there overnight, she caused a lot of damage right now that’s for sure,” Demillio said.
Perkins eventually surrendered and fell through the ceiling. Deputies say they also found drugs on her. She was arrested and is facing several charges.
