Man with hatchet in pants popped in Port St. Lucie | Video

PORT ST. LUCIE — A man was arrested after police say he had a hatchet in his pants, according to a report.

The problem came because Port St. Lucie police say the hidden hatchet was swiped from Walmart and also because the accused hatchet stealer, Joseph Thornton, lacked a concealed weapon license.

The case of the man with the tool in his trousers went down Aug. 11 at a Walmart in St. Lucie West, according to a Port St. Lucie police report. Police about 8 p.m. went there after a report of a theft in progress.

Investigators watched surveillance video as a man identified as Thornton, 36, was “concealing merchandise on his person and in a Walmart shopping bag,”

Investigators stopped Thornton and recovered pilfered products including the hat he wore, clothes, a speaker and a USB cable. He was wearing stolen socks, but Walmart let him keep those, the report states.

Asked if he had weapons, Thornton said he had a pocket knife, which police found.

“I then felt a hard surface in Joseph`s inner thigh, and asked what it was,” the report states. “He told me it was a hatchet.”

A hatchet is a small ax that can be used with one hand. Hatchets often are employed when chopping kindling. They are not to be confused with tomahawks, small axes which typically are used as weapons.

The hatchet, inside Thornton’s boxers, was tied to the drawstrings of his sweatpants.

Thornton said he messed up and needed clothes because he said he’s homeless, saying “it ‘gets old being in the same clothes,’" according to the report.

Evidently there was no burying of the hatchet as Thornton was arrested on charges including petty theft and carrying a concealed weapon without a license.