On Sunday at approximately 4:40 a.m., deputies were dispatched to the area of S. Combee Road and Hwy 92 in Lakeland about a suspicious person.

Upon arrival at the scene, deputies saw a male standing on the platform of the railroad crossing mast. Due to recent interactions with the subject, he was identified as 28-year-old Tieshawn L. Edwards.

Deputies attempted to convince Tieshawn to climb off the crossing mast, which he refused. During the investigation, Tieshawn refused to comply with orders to climb off the crossing mast.

While Tieshawn refused to comply with orders from deputies, he began littering and tampering with evidence by throwing a plastic baggie onto the roadway.

What initially appeared to be simple trash was determined to be a plastic ziplock baggie with a white residue.

“Based on my training and experience, the white color residue appeared to be methamphetamine. Utilizing a Q-tip, I swabbed the inside of the baggie and inserted the Q-tip into a #15 Narc test kit. The test kit indicated positive results for Methamphetamine. Also during this time, Tieshawn was exposing his penis in public in a vulgar manner and was witnessed by Polk County Fire Rescue,” said PCSO.

Deputies say Tieshawn interfered with railroad signals and interfered with railroad tracks and other equipment.

While Tieshawn was on the crossing mast, he removed a bolt from the stabilizer arm which would require repair.

He also damaged wires for the flashing signals on the crossing arms. As a result, at least 4 trains were extremely delayed and disrupted normal operations on the track and normal operations of roadways in the area.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office S.W.A.T. team responded to the scene in an attempt and remove Tieshawn from the crossing mast as safely as possible and take him into custody.

With the assistance of fire rescue trucks equipped with bucket ladders, four S.W.A.T. team members were lifted in the bucket ladder to physically secure Tieshawn.

Once the S.W.A.T. members were able to physically detain Tieshawn he began resisting with physical violence.

Deputies say at approximately 2:00 p.m., members of the S.W.A.T. team were able to safely secure Tieshawn and remove him from the crossing mast.

Tieshawn was taken into custody and criminally charged with the following offenses:

-Interference with Railroad Signals (F/3) (2 counts)

-Interference with railroad track and other equipment (F/3)

-Tampering with Evidence (F/3)

-Resisting with Violence (F/3)

-Possession of Methamphetamine (F/3)

-Exposure of sexual organs (M/1)

-Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (M/1)

-Culpable Negligence (M/2) (4 counts)

-Resisting with Violence (M/1)