PANAMA CITY BEACH — An elementary school was placed on lockdown Thursday after the parent of a student scaled the school cafeteria fence to eat Thanksgiving lunch with his child.
Parents were lined along Hutchison Beach Elementary after school at about 2 p.m. to pick up their children, many of whom were wearing headbands with feathers sticking out, as police sought 33-year-old Randy Eugene Smith II. The school had been placed on lockdown moments after Smith was asked to leave a parent-student Thanksgiving lunch and then climbed the cafeteria fence in a covert attempt to return to the luncheon, according to Panama City Beach Police reports.
Deputy Chief Chad Lindsey said school officials noticed the parent appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic during the lunch and described Smith’s behavior as “incoherent.” Smith was asked to leave school grounds and was escorted off the property without incident or indication he would return, PCBPD said.
However, Smith returned a short time later.
“He came back, hopped the cafeteria fence and was trying to return to the lunch with his child,” Lindsey said.
School officials saw Smith scaling the fence and called police. The school was placed on lockdown as PCBPD began a search of the school grounds, but Smith had fled before they arrived, PCBPD said.
At about 2:30 p.m., police found Smith at his Pinetree Road and arrested him. He was booked into Bay County Jail on charges of trespassing on the grounds of a school facility.