Five Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officers combined to fire 42 rounds into a car in which a suspected armed bank robber forced himself into in an attempt to escape. Deputies shot and killed the suspect who never fired his weapon at police but they also hit a 2-year-old twice according to the Associated Press.
The toddler is in critical condition after being shot in the arm and the upper torso. There was also a 7-year-old girl in the car who thankfully was not shot as well. The young child who was shot was identified as Daniel Crichton. The child’s mother was also shot once in the foot.

A 911 operator who ignored a call reporting a injured man lying in a street has lost her job following an internal investigation. The injured man eventually died after lying on the side of a road for 16 hours. There has been no determination as of yet if his death could have been averted if the 911 operator had sent emergency personnel to the scene immediately after the call was placed. Charlotte County is currently facing a lawsuit over the way 911 operators handled the abduction of Denise Lee.
The most recent incident took place December 11 in North Port when a man reported seeing someone lying on the side of a road to the 911 operator. The caller was unsure of the street name but gave detailed directions to the location of the injured party. The 911 operator reportedly felt the caller was intoxicated and that he would call back. He never did and no help was ever sent. A medical examiner’s report is expected to determine time of death, which will also determine if a response from 911 could have saved the man’s life.

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Just two months after the husband of murder victim Denise Lee filed a lawsuit over a botched 911 call that may have saved the young mother’s life, the North Port and Charlotte County 911 systems are under fire once again. According to a column by Eric Ernst in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, a 911 operator in North Port basically dismissed a call that may have helped save the life of 55-year-old Brian Woods.
Mark Minisci, Jr. called 911 to report a man lying on the ground next to his pick-up truck. Minisci couldn’t remember the name of the street where he saw the man but gave detailed directions to the location. The 911 operator who handled the call did nothing with the information saying her ‘system doesn’t work like that’. Sixteen hours after the call Woods was still lying in the exact same spot in the street dead. We don’t know yet whether the man was alive when Minisci did his civic duty and made the call, but it is sure to once again cast a spotlight on the state of 911 operators in this part of Florida and could lead to yet another wrongful death lawsuit.

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Nine stroller models sold at Target and Babies R Us are being recalled after 12 reports of children having their fingertips amputated in the stroller’s hinge mechanism. The strollers are manufactured in China and distributed in the U.S. by Maclaren. According to an Associated Press story on the TBO website, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall after an investigation into the strollers.
The children’s fingers are at risk when placed in the hinge mechanism as the stroller is unfolded. When the hinge locks into place it can cut off the fingertips of a child. The company is offering hinge covers to stop future accidents from happening at no cost. The CPSC is warning owners of these strollers to stop using them until they receive the hinge covers.
If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury due to a company’s negligence and are in need of qualified legal representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter. You can also contact Darren via email.

The family of a Connecticut woman who was brutalized and left blinded by a 200-pund chimpanzee has filed a $150 million lawsuit against the state according to an Associated Press story on the website TBO.com. The attack took place outside the home of the chimp’s owner. Charla Nash was asked by the owner to help her lure the runaway chimp back into her home when the animal attacked the woman and chewed off her hands, nose, lips and eyelids.
The suit is claiming that that state failed to address the serious public safety issue presented by the chimp named Travis. According to the story the state was warned that Travis could hurt someone before the attack on Nash. The family had earlier filed a lawsuit against the chimp’s owner for $50 million claiming negligence and recklessness.
If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of another and are in need of quality legal representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter. You can also contact Darren via email.

A long-planned lawsuit against Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron was filed last week by Nathan Lee according to a story on the Sarasota Herald Tribune’s website. Lee filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing the sheriff and his staff of negligence in investigating the abduction of his wife and contributing to Denise Lee’s death.
Lee is asking for $200,000 and he said the lawsuit is about 911 reform and not the financial judgment, which would require a special act by the legislature to collect that amount in damages. Since his wife’s tragic death, Lee has become an advocate for 911 reform asking dispatchers receive better training. Lee’s wife was struggling with her abductor when a passing motorist called 911 but the Charlotte County Sheriff’s never sent a deputy to investigate despite several officers being located nearby. Lee was raped and murdered following the abduction. Her murderer was convicted and the jury recommended he be sentenced to die.
If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of another and are in need of quality legal representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter.

An 18-year-old wrestler at Countryside High has filed a lawsuit against the Pinellas County School Board claiming they failed to provide a safe environment as reported on TampaBay.com. Richard Serra is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 for injuries he suffered which included a fractured skull, broken rib and broken collar bone that required surgery.
According to the plaintiff and Clearwater Police, Serra and another student met out in a school hallway and began to wrestle. As the second student went to throw Serra over his shoulder, he collapsed under the weight of the 18-year-old and lost his grip. The student who injured Serra and who was not named in the article, was suspended for 15 days.
If you or a loved one has been injured by no fault of your own and are in need of quality legal representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter. You can also email Darren.

A Jacksonville Police Officer is currently serving a five-day suspension for violating police chase rules and wrongly firing shots. An Associated Press article on the Bradenton Herald website reported that Jose Gonzalez fired 10 shots while pursuing a robbery suspect with none of the shots hitting the target.
Gonzalez disobeyed direct orders during the chase and his gunshots hit two uninvolved vehicles and a home. At this point there has been no report of innocent bystanders being injured due to the officer’s negligence during the police chase.
If you or a loved one has been injured by the negligence of another and are in need of quality representation in your case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1-800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter.

A Tampa judge has ruled a lawsuit brought versus defense contractor Raytheon a class-action according to a story on the Tampa Tribune website. The lawsuit was filed by a group of homeowners who lived near the now-vacant Raytheon plant in St. Petersburg. They claim underground waste from the plant has caused a decreased value on nearly 1,400 privately owned parcels of land.
The ruling will allow hundreds of residents to now file for damages against the giant defense contractor. Raytheon is in the midst of a 25-year clean-up in the area but residents claim there are 1,350 land parcels that have been tainted with cancer-causing chemicals.
If you or a loved one is in need of quality representation in your personal injury case, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT (1800-344-4848) or online at FightYourInjury.com to discuss the matter. You can also contact Darren via email.

A lot has been written in Tampa about two cases that involved fatal traffic accidents and how they were handled differently. The case in Brooksville has taken a new turn on the civil side. The family of sheriff’s Capt. Scott Bierwiler has filed a lawsuit against the teen driver and his family for an accident that cost the officer his life. (read more)
The lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 and alleges negligence against the teenager and his parents, who owned the SUV the teen was driving. The lawsuit seems to fly in the face of the criminal proceedings as it alleges the parents are liable for knowing their son was driving the SUV. The teen was charged with stealing the car by prosecutors.
If you or a loved one has been harmed due to someone else’s negligence, please contact Personal Injury Attorney Darren Finebloom at 1-800-FIGHT-IT or online at fightyourinjury.com to discuss the matter.