Representatives of the families of the three girls who died last month after the car they were in crashed into a pond want an outside investigation and for the Pinellas County Sheriff to resign. They plan a protest Friday and have a list of demands.
The Sheriff’s Office has said deputies were not pursuing the girls in the car, but supporters of the family say Sheriff’s dashcam video indicates a law enforcement vehicle was going more than 90 miles an hour.
The mother of one of the teenagers who died attended a press conference this morning at the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg. The parents have decided not to talk to the media because of possible litigation, but she was represented by Minister Ali Muhammad with the Nation of Islam.
Listen to the story here:
“We stand with the family, to demand that Sheriff Bob Gualtieri step down. He told a lie. And whenever you lie, you discredit ethical and trust in the system we say we’re supposed to promote. If there’s no ethics in those who are supposed to protect and serve its citizens, then we are living in an uncivilized environment that the most honorable Elijah Muhammed called the ‘Hells of North America.’”
The girls died after the car they were in veered off a cemetery road and into a pond last month off Gandy Boulevard near I-275. A photo of the car was displayed at the press conference; it shows damage to the right rear bumper. The chair of the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, Omali Yeshitela, suggested that indicates the police intentionally rammed the girls’ car.
“Though they claimed they did not chase — and even though dash-cam cameras showed that they were driving at 93 miles per hour on some of the sheriff deputies cars — with the lights off. When they chased the cars, using this pit — pursuit intervention technique — what they do is drive next to the car-up to the rear of a car and tap the back bumper of the car or right under/behind the wheel to make the car spin out. And if they are traveling too fast or if they are on uneven terrain, what happens is the wheels will leave the ground and there’s no telling where the vehicle will go. Well, we know where the vehicle went in this instance. They killed those children. I think we have no problem making that statement. They killed them. They murdered them.”
But Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the deputies did not use a ‘pit’ maneuver.
“Absolutely not. You know, they can suggest all they want but all they’re doing is fabricating things for self-serving purposes and none of that happened. There was no pit maneuver used, period. And that damage could be explained by any one of a number of circumstances, including from the car being pulled out of the pond after it was submerged, to the damage was on the car already, before they stole it. But, absolutely not, there was no pit maneuver done.”
Gualtieri also says in the cemetery the cars were going no more than 35 miles an hour and all the recordings and information about the crash have already been released. The Sheriff rejected another demand from the press conference group supporting the girls’ families – that the deputies involved face criminal charges.
“Of course not, that’s ridiculous. The only criminals here are those three girls who were operating a stolen car at 4:00 in the morning running from the police. So that’s a non-issue and it’s concluded that the deputies did absolutely nothing wrong.”
The hour-long press conference got heated when a reporter asked if the girls or their parents shared any of the responsibility for their deaths. Omali Yeshitela placed the responsibility on what he said is a 
history of racist colonialism and a culture of violence in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
“This community has been surely wounded. And the atmosphere in this meeting is representative of how this community — my community, her community — is affected by this. This happens all the time – too often. And most often, black people are killed and are just dead meat.”
Two years ago the son of Andrew Joseph Jr. was struck and killed by a car after deputies had ejected him and other youths from the Florida State Fair in Hillsborough County and dropped him off outside the fair. Joseph says he’s fed up with parents losing their kids.
“In my son’s case: if there was a mangy dog running around, up in that Fair, they wouldn’t have put a dog in the police car and brought that dog to the gate and put that dog out. And that’s exactly what they did to my son. If they would have found three dogs drowning in that pond, they would have put a better effort to save those three dogs. So, we’re not here fighting a black-and-white issue, we’re fighting a humane issue. That we’re treated no better than animals. In the state of Florida, a dog’s life is worth more than a black child.”
A coalition of groups supporting the families of the three girls will protest Friday outside the Pinellas County Courthouse, 14250 North 49th Street in Clearwater beginning at 3:30 p.m.
Watch the video of the press conference (in three parts) …
9 Responses to “Groups say 3 girls who died in pond were ‘murdered’ by Pinellas deputies”
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Uhuru! We white people in Uhuru Solidarity stand in complete unity with the families of these murdered girls. The leadership the African People’s Socialist Party defend the families from this colonial terror and demand justice! The cops chased the girls, rammed them, drowned them, stood aside watching, and then lied to make themselves seem heroic. This is SICK and WRONG.
Agreed RL Starr…the conditions of colonialism in the black community which are carried out in the form of state oppression is the cause of this horrific tragedy. .the police are an occupying colonial army in the black community. .they do not protect and serve the black community. .they protect and serve white people and white power. .they girls were victims of state oppression plain and simple. .
You are both full of shit. Want a head’s up? Quit commiting crimes, be a parent of your own damn kids, and stop killing each other for a start.
I’m the mother of a 14 year old. Those girls should have been in bed by 10:00 pm. Of course in that community nobody holds those parents accountable. Those women need to be put in jail for neglecting their parental duties. Period.
One thing I’ve always noticed about people like you Veritas, , if it was three WHITE girls that were dead, people like you would be posting stuff like “My sympathies go out to the parents of those poor girls” but whenever the victims are Black, then people like you ALWAYS post “WHERE WERE THE PARENTS?” and blame everything on the Victims.
I am a frequent critic of certain police tactics. I was once pulled over in New Jersey, told to get out of the car and frisked, and asked to have my car searched. The reason? I had Florida license plates and was under the age of 25.(believe he thought we were drug mules). It happened years ago, but I still get angry thinking about it. However, this so called evidence is as flimsy as it gets. Who knows, it could have happened that way, but they have a long way to prove it.
Those kids were not VICTIMS they were criminals in a stolen car. You people are the ones that always play victim wah wah wah . Yet they were the ones commiting the crime.
I know this was written a year ago but I really need to give my 2 cents worth. First of all, what do you mean “People like You?” I can only assume you’re black. Now if someone of another color said the same thing, you’d be having a hissy fit. In my opinion if they were White, Asian, Native American, Latino etc. I’d still say the same thing. They were little thugs whose parents didn’t take responsibility for raising their children correctly. Between the 3 of them, they were arrested 7 times. That should tell you something right there. Stop putting the blame on others and take responsibility for your own actions. NO! I’M NOT WHITE! Native American to be exact. My people walked “THE TRAIL OF TEARS,” but you don’t hear me whining about sh*t that happened a long, long time ago. Oh and by the way, my ex. is a retired CHP (Calif. Highway Patrolman) and HE IS BLACK. Just don’t want you to get it twisted!!!! NEWS FLASH, a lot of people, blacks included, are tired of hearing the “OH POOR ME BS. We are ALL individuals and EACH ONE OF US IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LIFE CHOICES WE MAKE. Those girls chose to carjack someone and they paid the price. Yes, too bad they died so young but that’s the choice THEY made. So, People like you make me sick, always trying to blame others for your actions. Don’t like it do ya? Then wake up and take responsibility for YOUR actions.
Bullshit, those criminals stole a car, drove into that pond and died. Their choice, their consequence of their actions. These were not angels they were repeat criminal offenders. They killed themselves. Thankfully only themselves, after running from the police at 90 miles per hour plus. I have no sympathy for them or their families, allowing punk ass kids out at 4 am and repeatly stealing cars.