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Dad: 'The St. Petersburg Police Department Took My Son's Life'

St. Petersburg Police Department

Police say they recovered this .38 caliber Smith and Wesson with three spent cartridges in the handgun at the scene.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 10, 2008

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  Javon Dawson

ST. PETERSBURG - "I got a subject down," a voice on the police radio said. "He had a gun."

"I need a rescue."

Those words were spoken Saturday night by St. Petersburg police Officer Terrence Nemeth, a 24-year-old rookie, moments after he fired two shots into the back of a 17-year-old Gibbs High School student brandishing a pistol, authorities said.

The boy, Javon Maurice Dawson, ran a few feet, collapsed and died.

Police on Monday released radio transmissions made by police after they arrived at the scene and a 911 recording of earlier calls about a large gathering outside the Shining Light Masonic Lodge.

Nemeth had responded to calls about a crowd of more than 200 outside the lodge, where there was a graduation party.

Dawson, police said, was seen firing shots into the air and horizontally when Nemeth confronted him in the street. Nemeth told him to drop the weapon. Dawson didn't comply, and Nemeth fired twice, said St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt.

"I think he was trying to run at the time of the shooting," Proffitt said, but it also looks as if he was pointing his gun back at Nemeth as he was fleeing, Proffitt said.

That would explain the impact points on Dawson's back, and the diagonal direction of the two bullets as they pierced Dawson's body and traversed across it, he said. One bullet struck Dawson in the back right shoulder, the other in the kidney, Proffitt said.

Nemeth fired a Glock .40-caliber handgun. Investigators recovered the handgun Dawson is accused of holding - a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson with three spent cartridges inside, Proffitt said.

More details are expected to emerge after Dawson's autopsy and as investigators try to track down witnesses. Many scattered after the shooting in the 3100 block of Fremont Terrace South.

Dawson's family was distraught over the incident. They questioned the police version of events, denied that Javon had a gun, and demanded Nemeth be prosecuted.

"I think it was murder because of the circumstances of how the police officers told how he was shot," said Javon's father, David Dawson. "He was shot twice in the back."

"They took my son's, ... took his life," Dawson said. "The St. Petersburg Police Department took my son's life."

As for Nemeth, Dawson would like to see the officer "get what he deserves."

The International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement gathered outside the police station Monday to protest the shooting as police brutality. Police administrators, meanwhile, released the officer's personnel file, which shows no excessive use of force.

"There has to be some justice here," said Uhuru leader Omali Yeshitela. "There is no rational explanation for a 17-year-old boy going to a so-called after-graduation party and now ending up in the morgue."

Some protesters were holding signs with Dawson's picture and the words, "Stop Police Murder." Others carried signs saying blood was on the hands of high-ranking St. Petersburg officials.

On Saturday, roughly 250 people were outside the lodge about 10:45 p.m. when a man made a 911 call to complain of a loud party, a tape of the call says. "Do you see any weapons?" a dispatcher asked him. "Not so far," the caller replied.

When police arrived, they spent about five minutes clearing the street. Then there were reports of shots fired, and Nemeth's controlled but nervous voice is heard on the radio saying he had a subject down and needs an ambulance. He suggests how the ambulance should get to the scene.

Dawson had no prior brushes with the law, police say.

Nemeth is a rookie officer who finished his probationary period six months ago, police said. A 2001 graduate of Northeast High School, he served four years with the Marine Corps, earning both rifle and pistol marksmanship badges, his personnel file shows.

His past evaluation, completed in December, says he knows how to keep his cool under pressure.

"He possesses good verbal defusion skills, allowing him to quickly de-escalate most situations," a supervisor wrote. "As a result, Officer Nemeth is able to minimize the necessity for the use of force in most situations. ... He is able to adjust his tone and volume to suit his audience.

"He utilizes only the amount of force necessary to overcome the resistance encountered," the evaluation states.

Although he has used force previously - typically taking uncooperative suspects to the ground - he never used his handgun before, his record shows. No one has complained to internal affairs in instances where he used force, his personnel file shows.

The shooting is under investigation by the police department and the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office.

Reporter Neil Johnson and News Channel 8 reporter Rod Challenger contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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