Page 18 - Florida Sentinel 9-7-18

Bay Area News
Supervisors Graduated From Florida Leadership Academy
Jury Awards Attorney Dawson’s Client $125,000.00
Mr. Dawson returns to the lectern as he conducts the direct testi- mony of young Devarus Robinson, the high school football player who had been abused by his coach.
BARTOW, FL – On Thursday, August 30, 2018, a six-person jury (5 women and 1 man) returned a ver- dict in the amount of $125,000.00 against the Polk County School District to compensate Devarus Robinson, a former high school football player at the Katheleen Senior High School in Lakeland, Florida. The award was for damages he incurred from being bul- lied and physical abuse by his high school football coach that began when he was in the 9th grade and lasted into his senior year.
Attorney Warren Hope Dawson, over a pe- riod of nearly 6 years, suc- cessfully labored to keep alive the claims of this young man who had suffered phys- ically and mentally from the inappropriate conduct of his
head football coach.
Attorney Isaac Ruiz- Carus, associated with Mr. Dawson and led the effort at trial and convinced the jury that an award of money damages was the appropriate remedy for what this young student had suffered.
Mr. Dawson, a veteran civil rights lawyer who has litigated against more than one school district in Florida, said: “The moral of the jury verdict in this case stands for the proposition that it is never appropriate for a teacher or coach to physically abuse a student.”
Warren Hope Daw- son, Esquire, can be reached at 1467 Tampa Park Plaza, Tampa, FL 33605; Tele- phone: (813) 221-1800; Fac- simile: (813) 221-1802 and E-mail wdawsonlaw@aol. com.
Sgt. Melvin Jackson, Jr., and Supervisor Ciara Manns are shown with Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
Two Pinellas County Sher- iff’s Office supervisors re- cently graduated from the Florida Criminal Justice Ex- ecutive Institute’s Florida Leadership Academy. The In- stitute is located at the Pinel- las County Sheriff's Office, in Largo.
Among the graduates were: Sgt. Melvin Jackson, Jr., and Supervisor Ciara Manns.
This marked the first time the Leadership Academy was held at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
The graduating class in- cluded 40 first-line supervi-
sors who serve in leadership roles representing criminal justice agencies throughout the state of Florida.
The graduates met for four, week-long sessions and learned skills necessary to support the needs of their agencies and their communi- ties as they prepare for future challenges.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Florida Leadership Academy. The goal of the Florida Leadership Academy is to prepare first- line supervisor in criminal justice organizations to exem-
plify the character and in- tegrity expected of criminal justice professionals and to examine the various compo- nents necessary to being an efficient leader.
The Florida Criminal Jus- tice Executive Institute, which is housed within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and affiliated with the State University System, was established in 1990 by the Florida Legisla- ture to address the need for an innovative and multi-faceted approach to the education and training of criminal jus- tice professionals.
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