An arrest warrant has been issued for the son of a Sanford police lieutenant, almost three weeks after a video camera captured him throwing a sucker-punch at a homeless man and breaking his nose.
Justin Collison is wanted on a charge of aggravated battery.
A video shot by a witness earlier this month in downtown Sanford, shows Collison attacking Sherman Ware and then punching another man. The video shows Ware trying to break up a fight on the sidewalk when Collison walks up behind him and punches Ware in the back of the head.
Police officers responding to the Dec. 4 attack didn't arrest Collison. Acting Sanford police chief Capt. Jerry Hargrett said officers made "blatant" policy violations that night, including not handcuffing Collison or patting him down.
Officer Samuel McNeil wrote in his report that he did not arrest the lieutenant's son because Ware gave no sworn written statement and that Collison and his friend, Eric Lassady, who was also involved in the bar fight, gave conflicting accounts.
The arrest warrant was issued after Orlando television station WFTV aired footage of the attack.
Honor the dead by bringing life and hope to the living
Nearly 100 homeless people and advocates sat side-by-side as the names of each decedent were called and eulogies offered.
Hear remarks offered at the 9th annual Homeless Persons’ Candlelight Memorial Service, held to recognize and pay tribute to 35 Central Florida persons who died homeless during 2010.
The service was held on December 21 – the first day of winter and the longest night of the year, which is symbolic in its representation of the long nights spent unsheltered by those who have no home to go to.
Listen to the memorial here. The Heard in Central Florida page includes links to material regarding homeless issues, each principal speaker, a series of still pictures taken at the event in an on-line slide show, plus an archive of other podcasts Carroll McKenney Public Media has featured on local homeless issues.
Food Not Bombs member arrested at Lake Eola for first time since 2007
Right when we were marveling at how long it had been since a member of Food Not Bombs was last put in handcuffs, the Orlando Weekly writes, Orlando’s senior anarchist Ben Markeson called to notify us that he had finally received the honor of leaving a food-sharing at Lake Eola Park in a police squad car.
Markeson was charged with resisting an officer without violence after inserting himself into a discussion about parking between city police officer Noah Pruitt and another Food Not Bombs volunteer. The issue was exactly what is allowed -- parking, stopping or standing -- in a sidewalk-lined circle which, as the Weekly observes, seems to encourage, well, stopping and standing.
I have to include here my own quote: “I wonder what the circle is for, then – maybe to drive around for the fun of it, to make the kids in the backseat dizzy?”
The Supreme Court of India has directed all states and union territories to ensure that no night shelter was demolished amid the biting winter cold and slammed the Delhi Development Authority for demolishing two shelters.
The authority was ordered to rebuild them within three days.
The court said it was the duty of the government to ensure that not a single citizen across the country sleeps under the open sky in such "intense" winter.
"We are greatly anguished, disappointed and astonished as to how could the authorities be so insensitive, impervious and callous when the winter is so intense," the court said.
Churches skirt shelter regulations, offer all-night prayer service for homeless
"It wouldn't be the first time people fell asleep in church," Pastor Mark Thompson said.
Thompson and his congregation at St. Mark Lutheran Church mobilized over the weekend after learning that the City of Cudahy, Wisconsin, had rejected another church's proposal to host a temporary shelter.
The congregations and others who work with the homeless say organizations can open their facilities as warming rooms when the temperatures reach life-threatening levels, regardless of whether they qualify as shelters. No one, however, could cite an official ordinance or statute.
"It's a way to skirt the law," said Ken Schmidt of Hope House.
Assistant Milwaukee City Attorney Jay Unora said he knew of no such provision but doubted officials would shut down any place offering sanctuary in this cold unless the facilities were unsafe.
"We're about keeping people alive," he said. "I know of inspectors so heartless they'd turn their mother in. But I don't know of anybody, in these temperatures, who would tell a facility or church to turn people away."
Diseased. Is that how homeless people are made to feel?
David said that a friend stole $10,000 from him, he was recently divorced and that his favorite hobby is riding motorcycles although he no longer has one anymore.
David, a Vietnam vet, just asked for spare change. But the person he asked was "Leaflet," a regular contributor over at the Florida Progressive Coalition blog.
Leaflet offered to buy him some food at Taco Bell, and then the small favor turned into something much more significant.
Once he sat down in the passengers seat he apologized for being drunk and said that he promised me he wasn’t diseased or anything. I was shocked he had to assure me he wasn’t some kind of infectious vessel. Diseased – is that how homeless people are made to feel?
Leaflet wrote about her encounter to remind us all that a small act of humanity can give someone just enough hope to make it through the day or at least remind them what it'Leafkets like not to feel alienated, dangerous or “diseased.”
Read the post from the Florida Progressive Coalition blog here.
Judy Clark, 61, who has lived for three years in a homeless encampment, waits for friends to bring a van to put her belongings into storage.
A homeless encampment along the Los Angeles River has been broken up, forcing about 20 people to move from the area.
The camp's residents said some of them had been living in the same spot for five years and had no place to go.
Officials from two nearby cities said the camp had become a health and safety concern, with residents defecating in bushes and lighting fires to keep warm. Officials acted after receiving complaints from cyclists who felt unsafe using a bike path.
A spokesman said the city became aware of the campsite two or three months ago.
Twice last week, notices were distributed warning camp residents to be out by 8 a.m. Monday. Camp dwellers said they had been told to leave once before and nothing happened, so few took any notice. But by 7 a.m., the loaders and dump trucks were there. They were allowed to pack their belongings before city work crews began dismantling the camp.
Judy Clark said she used to work as a physical therapist but was laid off. Her boyfriend, Steve Orndoff, lost his commercial driving license when he failed to pay a ticket. When the bills became too much three years ago, they moved into the encampment.
Orndoff said he had recently gotten his license back and that the eviction would motivate him to pursue work. Clark was looking forward to a bubble bath at a motel where they planned to stay overnight.
Homeless man gets $75,000 after he was punched by police
A homeless man who was repeatedly punched by a police officer while a second officer attempted to restrain him will get $75,000 from a lawsuit settlement.
A bystander videotaped the incident and the footage was broadcast on television and widely circulated on the Internet.
Glen Beaty, 54, had been sleeping under a tree in Fresno, California, when the officers checked on his welfare. But they ended up arresting him.
The city of Fresno has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle the federal lawsuit filed by Beaty's attorneys.
Once homeless, city attorney tells her story to inspire others
"I had the dream of being a lawyer since I was a little girl and it was a long and difficult process with failure along the way, but I got to live my dream," said Nikki Johnson-Huston.
"It was scary and fearful and confusing. You don't know a lot, but you know that it's probably not how things are supposed to be."
That's how Nikki Johnson-Huston described her experience with homelessness when she was 9 years old. With her mother battling alcoholism, the family's life unraveled. They began living in hotels, on the streets, and then at a Salvation Army shelter. They ate meals at a rescue mission.
Today, she's a lawyer for the city of Philadelphia and makes it her mission to tell the homeless about the opportunities available to them and provide the support needed to get back on track.
Fifty-five years ago today, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
It wasn’t because she was tired. “No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” she said later.
Her arrest and conviction for disorderly conduct triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system by blacks that was organized by a 26-year-old Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The boycott led to a court ruling desegregating public transportation in Montgomery, but it wasn't until the 1964 Civil Rights Act that all public accommodations nationwide were desegregated.
A poverty lawyer (and, by the way, law professor) comments on social justice issues, news and court decisions ... with a few other random thoughts thrown in here and there
Help support IDignity! People without photo ID have difficulty accessing the critical services and benefits that help move people off the streets and out of poverty. Help us eliminate the barriers that are forcing people to live on the streets. Make a donation that will help one person – or 10 – get the photo ID that will enable them to access critical, life-sustaining services.
This blawg is a exercise in journalism, not legal advice. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for the advice of a qualified attorney, obtained in an attorney-client relationship, with respect to any actual legal issue or dispute.
Nothing on this web site should be construed as legal advice or perceived as creating an attorney-client relationship.
