Aug 30th last year my wifes was assaulted while standing at the LYNX bus stop in West Oaks mall in Ocoee Florida
She was standing off the bus and a little behind it just a little outside the view of the security cameras on the bus
A young man attempted to snatch her purse but she held on to it.
Just before he did he stuck his head in the door of the bus to speak to the driver
Just before the driver heard her yelling for help he is seen in the bus video exiting the frame heading toward her.
The Ocoee detective told me that he admitted that he did it, not to snatch her purse but because he was angry that she wouldn't talk to him.
Today we went to court
I overheard the defense lawyer say that his defense was that he was not near the mall that night before the trial started. I chuckled at this in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him
The victim, my wife did great on the stand except for one small glitch.
She does not speak English well enough for this type of proceeding so we had an interpreter and through the interpreter she could not state that West Oaks Mall was in Orange County and she did state that it was not in Ocoee.
Why would this matter you ask?
The representative for the Ocoee police department, the investigating detective who got the confession, who could have established that the Mall was in fact in Ocoee which is known to be in Orange County did not bother to appear today
The bus driver who could ID the guy and also establish that the Mall was within the jurisdiction of the Orange County courts system did not bother to show up today.
The case was dismissed because the great state's attorney could not establish that the court where we now found our selves trying this case had jurisdiction in the case.
No continuance, no simple verification process an out and out dismissal of all charges.
I asked the lawyer for the state if the contempt charges that we were threatened with if we failed to appear would be filed against these two taxpayer paid employees of the people.
He said he could certainly file a writ of blah blah blah.
So far I have called the CLEO of Ocoee and demanded an explanation, they'll get back to me but claim to have been given no notice of court today
I also contacted Seminole County Chairman Carlton Henley who is the chairman of LYNX to ask him why one of his employees failed to appear, hell get back to me in a couple if days.
I also informed them that this was the first of two incidents that happened to her while riding their buses, the second time she was actually on the bus and that in neither case had we considered suing-Yet.
I have been put in contact with a lawyer whose specialty is suing orange county police depts and government entities.
I'm waiting for the anger to subside before I decide whether we go through with it or not.
Somebody has to pay for this royal screw up on my dime.
Anybody have any suggestions ?
The only thing I have come up with is getting copies of all pertinent reports and names and climbing the ladder to Crist if necessary
Not only has a violent criminal been set free he has been set free and emboldened, if the comments made by his crew on the way out are any indication
She was standing off the bus and a little behind it just a little outside the view of the security cameras on the bus
A young man attempted to snatch her purse but she held on to it.
Just before he did he stuck his head in the door of the bus to speak to the driver
Just before the driver heard her yelling for help he is seen in the bus video exiting the frame heading toward her.
The Ocoee detective told me that he admitted that he did it, not to snatch her purse but because he was angry that she wouldn't talk to him.
Today we went to court
I overheard the defense lawyer say that his defense was that he was not near the mall that night before the trial started. I chuckled at this in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him
The victim, my wife did great on the stand except for one small glitch.
She does not speak English well enough for this type of proceeding so we had an interpreter and through the interpreter she could not state that West Oaks Mall was in Orange County and she did state that it was not in Ocoee.
Why would this matter you ask?
The representative for the Ocoee police department, the investigating detective who got the confession, who could have established that the Mall was in fact in Ocoee which is known to be in Orange County did not bother to appear today
The bus driver who could ID the guy and also establish that the Mall was within the jurisdiction of the Orange County courts system did not bother to show up today.
The case was dismissed because the great state's attorney could not establish that the court where we now found our selves trying this case had jurisdiction in the case.
No continuance, no simple verification process an out and out dismissal of all charges.
I asked the lawyer for the state if the contempt charges that we were threatened with if we failed to appear would be filed against these two taxpayer paid employees of the people.
He said he could certainly file a writ of blah blah blah.
So far I have called the CLEO of Ocoee and demanded an explanation, they'll get back to me but claim to have been given no notice of court today
I also contacted Seminole County Chairman Carlton Henley who is the chairman of LYNX to ask him why one of his employees failed to appear, hell get back to me in a couple if days.
I also informed them that this was the first of two incidents that happened to her while riding their buses, the second time she was actually on the bus and that in neither case had we considered suing-Yet.
I have been put in contact with a lawyer whose specialty is suing orange county police depts and government entities.
I'm waiting for the anger to subside before I decide whether we go through with it or not.
Somebody has to pay for this royal screw up on my dime.
Anybody have any suggestions ?
The only thing I have come up with is getting copies of all pertinent reports and names and climbing the ladder to Crist if necessary
Not only has a violent criminal been set free he has been set free and emboldened, if the comments made by his crew on the way out are any indication