Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 10-30-15 Edition

State News
Father Sacrifices Himself
Beauty Unlimited
KYANNA
This week’s Spotlight feature is the lovely Kyanna, and she’s more than ready for success. Kyanna wants to be a BRAND in the future, and hopes all the hard work she’s put in pays off with plenty of opportuni- ties. Congratulations to Kyanna as this week’s Spot- light feature.
To Save His Daughters
This past Saturday, Mau- rice Harris was at the Med- ical Arts Facility at St. Joseph’s Hospital with two of his five daughters. He had taken them there for a rou- tine medical checkup, and according to his sister, LaShune Harris, the three of them were elated over the good news the doctor had given them.
Harris and his daugh- ters were leaving the doctor’s office and heading over to Checkers Restaurant across the street from the hospital when a man lost control of his vehicle, causing it to crash into a sign and head di- rectly toward Harris and his daughters.
An alert Harris was able to shove his daughters out of the path of the oncoming truck, but he was hit head- on.
When emergency person- nel arrived on the scene, Harris’s daughters were trying to tell them their dad was under the truck, because their attention had been di- rected to the driver of the truck.
Harris was killed in-
MAURICE HARRIS
stantly, and police are inves- tigating why the 18-year-old driver of the truck failed to stop.
“He and the girls were so happy after they left the doc- tor’s office, and were going to Checkers when the acci- dent occurred,” said LaShune.
Harris, 40, is being cele- brated as a hero for saving the lives of his daughters, and LaShune said he did everything with his children and was a happy single par- ent.
“He was an amazing de- voted father, brother and
son. He would walk to the end of the earth for his fam- ily, and was very involved with his girls in a Girl’s Scout Troop.
“He was Mr. Mom when it came to his children and it takes a special man to care for a child with special needs that’s not his biological daughter.”
LaShune said Maurice coached football and was very involved with the foot- ball program at Tampa Catholic High School.
“We found it ironic that when I picked out the suit he would be laid to rest in, when we reached into one of the pockets, we found a pin that said ‘World Greatest Dad.’ That was exactly what Mau- rice was to his children.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family with funeral expenses, and Ray Williams is assisting.
On Friday, a viewing will take place at the funeral homefrom5p.m.to8p.m., and a service will be held Sat- urday, 11 a. m., at Exciting Central Tampa Baptist Church on Tampa Street.
Fall Festival
The community is invited to come out and join the members of New Smyrna Full Gospel Cathedral for their Fall Festival, ‘Trick or Trunk.’
Called a safe family alternative to trick or treating, on Satur- day, October 31st from 11 a. m. until 6 p. m., there will be free food, games, music, prizes, and plenty of candy.
The festival will be at 5015 North 17th Street, and for more in- formation, call (813) 374-9261.
Two Elected
Officials File
School Officer Fired After Throwing Student Across Classroom
‘Chloe’s Law’
TALLAHASSEE – In the early morning hours just be- fore dawn last June, 21-year- old UCF student Chloe Arenas lost control of her ve- hicle and drowned after plung- ing into a retention pond off a state road in Orange County. Her death was one of many ex- pected annually from vehicle- related drownings, all part of Florida’s alarming rank as first in the nation for such tragedies, according to a study by the National Highway Traf- fic Safety Administration.
Concerned with the safety of Floridians on state roads and ways to prevent similar accidents, Senator Darren Soto (D-Orlando) and Rep- resentative Rene Plasen- cia (R-Orlando) have filed legislation to require the Florida Department of Trans- portation to erect guard rails along certain bodies of water bordering state roads where deaths from drowning have occurred. “Chloe’s Law” would apply to those areas where the fatal accidents were recorded from July 1, 2006 through July 1, 2016.
The legislation is expected to be taken up in the 2016 Leg- islative Session which begins in January.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A deputy who flipped a disrup- tive student out of her desk and tossed her across her math class floor was fired on Wednesday.
The sheriff called his ac- tions "unacceptable," and said videos recorded by her class- mates show the girl posed no danger to anyone.
"What he should not have done is throw the student," Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. "Police officers make mistakes too. They're human and they need to be held accountable, and that's what we've done with Deputy Ben Fields."
Civil rights groups praised the swift action against Fields, a veteran school re- source officer and football coach at Spring Valley High School. Outrage spread quickly after videos of the white officer arresting the black teenager on Monday ap- peared on the Internet.
Lott thanked the FBI for investigating whether civil rights were violated, and school officials for promising to review how police are used for discipline.
"They need to understand that when they call us, we're
A South Carolina sheriff says he has fired a school officer after video showed him flipping a teen backward out of her desk and tossing her across a classroom.
going to take a law enforce- ment action," Lott said. "Maybe that ought to have been something handled by the school without ever calling the deputy."
The sheriff also had stern words for the student who started the confrontation by refusing to hand over her cell- phone after her math teacher saw her texting in class - a vi- olation of school policy.
Both she and another stu- dent who verbally challenged the officer's actions during the arrest still face misdemeanor charges of disturbing schools, punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail, Lott said, although in most cases, judges impose alternative sen- tences that keep students out of jail.
PAGE 12-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015