Charlotte County approves panhandling ordinance
With careful attention to language, Charlotte County commissioners have approved an ordinance defining and prohibiting aggressive or obstructive panhandling.
The new ordinance, which came in response to numerous resident complaints, passed 3-1. The use of intimidation, violence or threats, or the obstruction of pedestrian or vehicular traffic while panhandling will be a second-degree misdemeanor.
Assistant County Attorney Derek Rooney told commissioners that he reviewed 44 similar ordinances from around the country, including several challenged in Florida over free speech and other concerns. He said he was confident the ordinance would stand up to constitutional challenge.
Read the
Sarasota Herald-Tribune report
here.
Homeless hate crime bill passes Florida Senate
A bill adding the homeless to Florida's hate crime law is headed to the governor after the Senate passed it 25-10.
The bill was triggered by a 2006 spree of attacks by three Broward teens who beat homeless men for sport. The teens beat one sleeping homeless man to death with a baseball bat. Another of the beatings was captured on video tape and gained national attention.
Under the bill (
HB11), people who attack the homeless out of prejudice would face heightened criminal penalties. For example, a second-degree felony would get bumped to a first-degree felony -- with the maximum prison sentence enhanced from 15 to 30 years.
Read the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel report
here. And see previous post
here and
here.
Florida House adds homeless to hate crimes law
Despite one state representative calling the homeless “bums,” the Florida House has passed a bill that would add the homeless to the state’s hate crime law.
Sponsored by
Rep. Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, the measure (
HB 11) passed 80-28.
“Nobody is more vulnerable,” Porth said. “If the sole reason you beat them was because they were homeless and sleeping on a bench then that deserves extra protection.”
Referring to the homeless as “bums,”
Rep. Paige Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, was among those in opposition.
“The bill is creating a new protected class of people based on the fact that they’re not voters, they’re not taxpayers and they live on the streets,” he said.
An identical bill,
SB 506, is headed for the Senate floor.
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here.
Update: The
St. Petersburg Times has a more complete story
here.
3 teens denied bail in beating death of homeless man
Three teenagers are being held without bail on charges of second-degree murder in the beating death of a homeless man in Lakeland.
The State Attorney's Office is awaiting further investigative reports to determine whether the two younger boys -- Cody Osborne, 15, and Shawn Whitten, 17 -- will be charged as adults. Christopher Decatur, 18, is being held as an adult.
Read
The Ledger report
here. And see previous post
here.
Is it time to define crimes
against the homeless as hate crimes?
The fatal beating of a homeless man by three teenagers this weekend in Lakeland should focus some attention on the question of whether crimes against the homeless should on classified as hate crimes.
I'll admit I have some reservations about this. I'm really worried that police and prosecutors will use an enhanced penalty provision against a homeless person who, say, gets into a fight with another homeless person.
But I also recognize the potential consciousness-raising effect of a campaign like this. And, in the wake of yet another senseless attack on a homeless man by young men who clearly don't know any better, maybe it's time to educate people about how wrong it is to dehumanize homeless people.
Read the Change.org post and sign the petition
here.
3 teens suspected in fatal beating of homeless man
Three teen-agers each face a second-degree murder charge after the beating death of a homeless man in Lakeland.
Joseph Ruba, 52, was riding his bicycle past a restaurant and exchanged words with 18-year-old Christopher Decatur, who was sitting on picnic tables with a group of friends.
"Apparently, it went from verbal to physical," Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said. "He (Ruba) was beaten pretty badly."
The incident left those who witnessed it shaken. Genesis Feagle, 19, looked out her window when her dog began barking and saw a group of people behind the restaurant beating and kicking a person on the ground, she said.
Feagle and two friends ran toward the group. "We yelled, 'We called the cops,'" she said. "They completely scattered."
Only Ruba remained, bloodied, slumped over and leaning on a fence. By the time deputies and emergency workers arrived, Ruba was dead.
Christopher Decatur, Cody Osborne, 15, and Shawn Casey Whitten, 17, are accused of the beating.
Read
The Ledger report
here.
23 days to homelessness ...
A single mom in Connecticut is getting closer to the edge of the cliff.
Read her story
here.
Deputy shoots homeless man dead
A homeless man was shot and killed after he threatened an Orange County sheriff's deputy with a knife.
The deputy spotted the homeless man during a routine patrol at a gas station east of Orlando, about 1:24 a.m., sheriff's reports show.
The deputy began a conversation with the man that was "consensual in nature," said a sheriff's spokesman. At some point, however, the homeless man told the deputy he was carrying drug paraphernalia and a knife.
When the deputy attempted to secure the man and confiscate the knife and his other illegal items, the man punched him in the face and ran, reports show. The deputy fired his
Taser, but missed, and then chased the man through the parking lot.
"Once [the deputy] reached the suspect, he pulled out the knife on the officer leaving him no option but to shoot him," the spokesman said.
The injured man died at a hospital. The deputy is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here.
Update: The deceased man has been identified as Bernard King, 47.
