Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 1-15-21

All About You
Deputy Dies After Being Rammed In Traffic Accident
SPOTLIGHT ON ME
Birthday Celebration
SHELAH WATKINS
Congratulations to a sea- soned lady who is about to cel- ebrate her birthday tomorrow, January 16th, with a small group of her family and friends. God is good, and she is eternally grateful to Him for keeping her.
A veteran deputy died in a traf- fic accident Monday. The driver of the vehicle is facing several charges.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the inci- dent began shortly before 4 p.m., when 9-1-1 calls came in from the management of the Paddock Club Apartments, 921 Paddock Club Drive, in Brandon.
The callers said a Black man had been throwing property out of his apartment window and front door. The caller also told police that the man had threatened harm in the past.
When deputies arrived, they spoke with the man through the door. They left because there was no cause to arrest him at the time. More than an hour later, police were called to the apartment com- plex, in reference to a disturbance.
This time, the caller reported that the Black man was naked and acting erratically. When deputies arrived at the scene the second time, they attempted to talk with the man, later identified as 28-
CPL. BRIAN LaVIGNE ... Died days before his retirement
year-old Zachary Gabriel Gar- rett. At that point, Garrett al- legedly became combative and struck two deputies who had ar- rived to investigate the complaint. He was reportedly tazed at the scene, but it had no affect on him, police said.
At some point, Garrett is al- leged to have fled from the scene in his vehicle.
The responding deputies at- tempted to block Garrett’s vehicle, but he got around them and crashed into one of the gates at the
complex.
Garrett continued on Brandon
Parkway, and then onto Lumsden Road. While traveling on Lums- den Road, witnesses told police that he was traveling at a high rate of speed and rammed a marked police car driven by Cpl. Brian LaVigne. Other deputies worked on Cpl. LaVigne as fire rescue attempted to free him from the ve- hicle.
Cpl. LaVigne was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Cpl. LaVigne, 54, was a 30- year veteran with the Sheriff’s Of- fice and was days from retirement at the time of his death. He was married and the father of two chil- dren.
Garrett was transported to the hospital as well. He has been charged with first-degree felony murder, DUI manslaughter, ve- hicular homicide, 2 counts of bat- tery on a law enforcement officer, 2 counts of resisting arrest with vi- olence, felony criminal mischief, and aggravated fleeing to elude.
GIGI
This week’s Spotlight feature is the lovely Gigi, and she is really something special. Gigi is a very confident young lady who is very much in touch with herself and those around her. This young lady has managed to stay focused and down-to-earth during her journey, and always has time for friends and family. Congratulations to Gigi as this week’s Spotlight feature.
PAGE 12-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2021