There is now a lawsuit in the drowning of three teenage car thieves. The mother of one girl is suing the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office for wrongful death. She claims deputies chased the girls down and forced them into the St. Petersburg cemetery pond where they drowned. The sheriff says deputies only followed the car.
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Bail is $150 thousand for 23 year old Ronal Vasquez-Gonzalez, who prosecutors say was drunk and driving the wrong way on U.S. 41 in Tampa when he slammed head on into another car, killing that driver. Vasquez-Gonzalez is charged with DUI manslaughter.
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Police now say Monday’s four car wreck that killed two people on U.S. 27 in Haines City started when one motorist crossed the center line and crashed into another. That wreck collected the other two vehicles. A 57 year old man and a 9 year old boy died.
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Tampa Police are looking for whoever shot and wounded a motorcyclist during a likely road rage incident on the Howard Frankland Bridge overnight. The gunman was in an SUV but police don’t have a description.
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The race for president is apparently too close to call in Florida. A new Quinnipiac poll has Democrat Hillary Clinton leading Republican Donald Trump 43 to 42 percent. Trump leads Clinton by four points in Ohio while Clinton leads Trump by one point in Pennsylvania. Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are election swing states.
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Three Pinellas County charter schools may be shut down. The board is talking about closing Windsor Preparatory, East Windsor Middle, and Newpoint Pinellas Academies after the private company that runs them was indicted in Escambia County on grand theft and money laundering involving schools there.
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Florida public schools teachers are asking an appeals court today to put an end to the state’s largest voucher program. They say public money should not be used for private schools. The program, which sends 78 thousand low income kids to private school, is set to expand to middle income families this fall.
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The ISIS supporter accused of plotting to blow up a Miami synagogue during recent Jewish Passover observances is asking a judge today to let him get out of jail on bail. Prosecutors are asking the judge not to, saying 40 year old James Medina is a flight risk and a danger to the public.
