Tag: florida
Florida police aide probed for saying black sergeant looked ‘like a monkey’
A police aide in Florida has been reassigned after allegedly saying a black sergeant looked “like a monkey,” according to a report.
Pablo Espinoza, a public service aide for the Miami-Dade Police Department, has been placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of an investigation for purportedly making the racial slur during a state Department of Motor Vehicles hearing in September, the Miami Herald reports.
An attorney for Miami-Dade Schools Police Sgt. Tracy Moore said Espinoza made the comment in reference to his client as she sat in a waiting area during a hearing to determine whether she would keep her driver’s license after being arrested for drunk driving in July.
“Your client looks like a monkey sitting there,” Espinoza said, attorney Michael Catalano recalled, adding that he was stunned by the unprovoked remark.
“I was shocked,” Catalano told the newspaper. “Nobody talks like that in 2019.”
Catalano later told Moore about the slur, but the officer, who is black, did not confront Espinoza during the administrative hearing, the attorney said.
Instead, Catalano ordered Espinoza to apologize within two hours, saying he would “drop” the entire ordeal if the public service aide admitted to making the comment.
“I was disgusted by that and they have video in the hallway,” Catalano wrote in a text message. “Apologize and we drop it.”
Espinoza, who has been employed by the department since 1987 and makes more than $55,000 a year, replied with an apology and indicated that he considered the matter “done,” but Catalano later circled back to the allegation during an Oct. 7 deposition in the criminal case against Moore, the newspaper reports.
“My client and I are very upset about this,” Catalano wrote in a complaint a day later to Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez. “My client wants PSA Espinoza fired immediately.”
Espinoza, who handles maintenance for Breathalyzer devices, regularly testifies at administrative and criminal hearings, but is not a sworn officer, the Herald reports.
“I can’t talk to you, bro,” Espinoza told the newspaper when reached by cellphone. “You know that.”
Department officials confirmed to The Post on Tuesday that Espinoza had been reassigned pending an internal investigation, adding that he has never been disciplined previously.
“The Miami-Dade Police Department takes all complaints seriously and are committed to the highest performance standards and ethical conduct,” the statement said. “We hold ourselves accountable for our actions and take pride in a professional level of service and fairness to all.”
Photo Credit: Facebook
Pedophile beaten and drowned in prison cell toilet bowl
A pedophile was allegedly drowned in his Florida prison cell toilet after being beaten by a cellmate, according to a report.
Convicted child molester David Oseas Ramirez, 56, was found dead in his cell in Jacksonville’s Duval County Jail last Tuesday allegedly after being beaten and drowned in the toilet bowl, according to First Coast News.
He was serving life for lewd and lascivious molestation of an 11-year-old girl — with his 2013 jury taking less than 15 minutes to find him guilty, according to Newsweek.
The attack was witnessed by a third inmate and also captured on surveillance camera footage, which has not been released, the station said. A medical examiner will determine the official cause of death.
Cellmate Paul Dixon, 43, was arrested on suspicion of Ramirez’s murder, authorities announced. He was already serving life for a murder committed when he was 17.
“A verbal altercation became physical. The suspect killed the victim in his cell,” the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“A third cell-mate was present and witnessed the murder. The suspect declined to speak with detectives and requested an attorney.”
The killing highlighted how there is “no peace in jail” for convicted child molesters, News4Jax crime and safety analyst Ken Jefferson said.
“They have to constantly watch over their back. They have to hope they can befriend someone to look out for them,” he said.
Jacksonville sheriff’s assistant chief Brian Kee told Action News Jax that the department has not had a similar crime “in recent memory.”
“I mean, I’ve been here almost 23 years. I can’t recall one,” Kee said.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/04/pedophile-beaten-and-drowned-in-prison-cell-toilet-bowl-reports/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
FL High school football star shot dead by friend over video game dispute
A Florida football player was shot dead by a longtime friend this week during a spat over a video game, according to a new report.
Joshua Ancrum, 17, was killed inside his pal’s Miami Gardens home Tuesday afternoon when the gaming dispute between the teens got heated, WPLG Local 10 reported. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“What mother wants to bury their son?” the boy’s distraught mom, Lisa Alvarez, told the station. “It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
Jatwan Phillips, 16, was arrested in connection with the slaying, according to the report. He appeared in court Wednesday and has been charged with aggravated manslaughter, though it’s unclear if he will be charged as an adult.
It was not immediately known which game sparked the fatal squabble.
A judge ordered Phillips to remain in jail on Wednesday, according to the report.
Ancrum’s teammates in the South Florida Express 7on7 Football Team considered him a brother.
“He might have grown up in a bad neighborhood and he had a lot of bad influences and stuff like that, but when he came with us, it was, kind of, you try to lead him in the right direction,” teammate Derek Wingo told the station.
The young athlete had received a football scholarship to Florida International University.
“We are saddened at the news of Joshua’s passing,” the school’s head coach, Butch Davis, said in a statement obtained by the station. “We at FIU will be praying for his family, friends and teammates in these trying times.”
Ancrum had always dreamed of going even further with his football career, but his dreams have been shattered, his mother told the outlet.
“Stop the violence,” she insisted.
The teen’s teammates launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his funeral expenses. It had reached $4,372 of its $10,000 goal by late Thursday morning.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/23/high-school-football-star-shot-dead-by-friend-over-video-game-dispute/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Florida man allegedly threatened to behead cops, eat their eyes
A Florida man allegedly threatened to behead police officers then “eat their eyes and tongues” while he was under arrest.
Ken Freeman, 50, remains held on bond Monday after he repeatedly threatened to decapitate six officers in a Brevard County parking lot, the Melbourne Police Department said.
Police were called to the scene Thursday after Freeman got into a fight with another driver who cut him off on the road.
Freeman and the other man “flipped each other off” before he followed the driver into a Dick’s Sporting Goods parking lot, authorities said.
That’s when Freeman allegedly exited his vehicle carrying a large knife, punched the other driver in the shoulder and held up the weapon to the man’s ear.
“I’ll cut your f–king head off in front of your family!” Freeman said, according to the affidavit.
Police then arrived to the mall parking lot, where Freeman allegedly repeatedly threatened the six officers.
“He stated several times he would cut officers’ heads off and eat their eyes and tongues,” police records said.
Freeman was booked into Brevard County Jail on charges for assault, battery and threatening death or serious bodily harm to a law enforcement officer.
He is scheduled to be arraigned June 13.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/20/florida-man-allegedly-threatened-to-behead-cops-eat-their-eyes/
Photo Credit: Brevard County Sheriff’s Office
Florida couple has lost custody of their cancer-stricken 3-year-old son because they opted to treat him with marijuana-infused oil instead of chemotherapy
Noah McAdams’ parents skipped his chemo appointment last Monday after deciding to use natural remedies for his acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The parents, Joshua McAdams and Taylor Bland-Ball, claimed their son hadn’t responded well to chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer last month.
“He had vicious mood swings making him violent, making him very emotional,” his mother told news station KTRK. “He also started to lose his hair right away after the first treatment.”
So the parents pulled the plug on the chemo sessions — prompting authorities to issue an endangered child alert when the family didn’t show up for last week’s appointment.
The family was quickly tracked down in Kentucky, and the boy was returned to a Tampa-area hospital, officials said.
A Hillsborough County judge ruled Thursday that Noah will go home with his maternal grandparents as his parents wage a legal battle to seek alternative treatments.
The parents testified that they began giving their son CBD oils, fresh foods and clean alkaline water in a bid to help him, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“This is not about whether we’re choosing alternative therapies, natural therapies,” Bland-Ball told KTRK. “This is about our rights as parents to seek other options.”
Authorities said an investigation was also launched to determine whether the couple will face child neglect charges.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/06/parents-lose-custody-of-son-after-stopping-chemo/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/facebook
FL White deputy caught on video punching black teen, slamming head on pavement
A sheriff’s deputy in Florida is on restricted duty after being caught on video punching a black teen in the head after he was pepper-sprayed and slamming his face into the pavement, video shows.
The Broward County deputy, Christopher Krickovich, is seen in footage circulating on social media platforms punching an unidentified 15-year-old boy in the back of the head after repeatedly slamming his face into the ground during an incident Thursday near J.P. Taravella High School.
Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said Friday that Krickovich has since been placed on “restrictive administrative assignment” as an investigation is conducted.
“We will look at this as a fact-finding measure to ensure that we hold folks accountable,” Tony said in a videotaped statement. “This may take some time for us to look thoroughly into, but understand that we will be transparent and if folks need to be held accountable, it shall be done. So please be patient with us.”
Witnesses at the scene — where 200-plus students gathered after rumors that a fight was set to break out, according to Krickovich’s report — can be heard screaming as the rough arrest unfolded.
“What are you doing?!” one woman shouts. “He’s bleeding!”
Krickovich said in an arrest affidavit obtained by the Miami Herald that the incident erupted when a large group of students began “yelling, threatening us and surrounding us” outside the school. One teen was taken into custody on trespassing charges after being involved in a fight there a day earlier. The second teen, meanwhile, was taken to the ground as the unruly group surrounded the deputies, Krickovich wrote.
“I had to act quickly fearing I would get struck or having a student potentially grab weapons off of my belt vest,” the arrest report read.
Two teens were arrested in connection with the incident, including one who was charged with assaulting an officer and obstruction without violence. A judge later downgraded the assaulting an officer count against the 15-year-old, who had no prior criminal history, WPLG reports.
Krickovich acknowledged that he was able to subdue the teen after he “struck the male in the right side of his head with a closed fist” as a distraction, WTVJ reports.
Other witnesses said deputies arrived at the school and threatened students in the crowd with pepper spray while ordering them to leave the area.
“The next thing you know, his head started bleeding and everything, and while he was getting handcuffed, lil bro got punched in the face by police,” one student told the station.
Another witness told WPLG that the deputies went “way too far” during the arrests.
The mayor of Broward County, Mark Bogen, said Krickovich should be fired and potentially prosecuted for his actions.
“The entire issue has to do with one word: resistance,” Bogen tweeted Monday. “In law enforcement if the alleged perpetrator is not resisting, then there is no justification to use force. When the student was on the ground, he did not resist at all.”
The video shows that the officer “had no justification” for smashing the teen’s head into the cement and punching him in the head, according to Bogen, who called on prosecutors to look into whether battery charges against Krickovich are warranted.
FL Man used squirt gun to shoot neighbor with his urine and vowed to “do it again” after he was nabbed
An irate, pee-brained Florida man filled up a squirt gun with his own urine and blasted a neighbor several times as she walked her dog — and vowed to “do it again” after he was nabbed, police said.
Joel William Benjamin, 71, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge after his Saturday arrest at an apartment complex in Gulfport, where he spotted the unidentified woman walking her dog and “approached the victim and pulled out a water gun that contained his own urine,” according to an arrest report obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.
Benjamin then squirted the woman several times and later told police he would “do it again” if given the chance, according to the arrest report.
It’s unclear what sparked the urine attack, but a source close to the matter told The Smoking Gun that Benjamin may have been aggravated by fellow residents at the Seaside Villas apartment building who do not curb their dogs.
The sickening incident did not “cause bodily harm” to the woman, according to the arrest report.
Benjamin, who has been released from the Pinellas County Jail, could not be immediately reached.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/16/man-used-squirt-gun-to-shoot-neighbor-with-his-urine-cops/
Woman beat boyfriend with his prosthetic leg after he tried to break up with her
A New Orleans-area woman, who beat up her ex-boyfriend with his own prosthetic leg earlier this year because he tried to break up with her, was arrested last Wednesday, police said.
On Feb. 11, Michelle Jackson, 58, was drinking with her now ex-boyfriend when he told her he wanted to see someone else, Capt. Jason Rivarde said. The man went to sleep without incident but awoke the next morning with an injured hand and a large cut on his head that was dripping blood, The Times-Picayune reported.
Jackson, who had left before authorities arrived, allegedly told a relative she had beat the man with his prosthetic leg and thought she had killed him. The woman allegedly told police that she had stabbed him, but Rivarde said there was no evidence.
U.S. Marshals arrested Jackson in her home Wednesday, New Orleans Fox 8 reported. She was booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on an aggravated battery charge without bond, the report said.
Florida man rich enough to buy private island busted for shoplifting
A wealthy Florida Keys man found the dough for an $8 million island off Key West –but was apparently too cheap to cough up the cash for household items he stole them from Kmart, according to reports.
Andrew Francis Lippi, 59, the owner of the Key Haven “Real World” house used in 2006 for the 17th season of the MTV reality series, was arrested on a charge of grand theft over the weekend just days after he purchased the luxe 4.9-acre Thompson Island of Monroe County, The Miami Herald reported.
According to the news outlet, Lippi had swiped $300 worth of goods that included a Keurig coffeemaker, a Hamilton Beach coffeemaker, eight light bulbs and a bed skirt from a Key West Kmart.
Sometime between March 30 and April 5, Lippi bought the wares from the big box department store and then returned the original packaging boxes with other items packed inside, The Miami Herald reported, citing a police report.
Cops say Lippi put a basketball in the Keurig box instead of the $165 coffeemaker, put old light bulbs in the box for the bulbs, and put a pillowcase in the packaging instead of the bed skirt.
The Hamilton Beach coffeemaker was swapped out with an older model, according to the report.
Lippi denied the allegations to The Miami Herald but refused to go into detail.
“Basically it has to do with a commercial dispute,” Lippi said. “I will say this, that the way it was handled by Key West police and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department was wonderful. Some of the finest people I’ve ever dealt with who were kind throughout the whole process.”
When asked about the theft accusation, Lippi said: “It’s very complicated and I’d rather not get into it.”
He added that he purchased the bed skirt from Kmart, but when he got home the pillowcase was inside.
According to cops, Kmart handed over security footage to authorities that showed Lippi with a cart that had the bed skirt in it, the report said.
A week before Lippi’s Saturday arrest, he bought Thompson Island from philanthropist Edward B. Knight.
The island, which is connected to A1A in Key West by a land bridge, is the only private island with direct access to Key West.
The lavish island compound features four bedrooms, six bathrooms, a caretaker’s cottage, a four-car garage and views of the Atlantic Ocean, according to an online listing.
Lippi was released from the Stock Island Detention Center the morning after his arrest, according to the report.
His arraignment is scheduled for April 18.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/09/florida-man-rich-enough-to-buy-private-island-busted-for-shoplifting/
What’s Your ‘Florida Man’ Story? The Florida Man Challenge
Basically, the internet is asking people, “What’s your Florida man story?
It’s fun and ridiculous at the same time, just like the Sunshine state.
It all started with from a Tumbler post last week when people were being asked to Google “florida man” followed by your birthday. For example, “florida man april 7.”
The first story that comes up is your ‘Florida Man’ story.
Top Florida man stories on CBSMIAMI.COM include
- Florida Man Attacked by Neighborhood Squirrel Who Has Residents On High Alert
- Florida Man Makes Beer Run With Large Gator In Hand
- Florida Man Says He Went ‘Bananas’, Shot Out Utility Workers’ Tires
- Florida Man Caught With Nearly 200 Illegal Lobsters
- Miami Police Shoot, Kill Florida Man Eating Another Man’s Face
- ‘Kill ‘Em With Kindness’: Florida Man Stabs Neighbor with Machete Named ‘Kindness’, Say Police
That’s just a few.
Here are a few other Florida man stories.
Article via CBSMiamiLocal