TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Shots Bring Out Race-Baiters In Full Force

ADVERTISEMENT

Daniel Ruth

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 12, 2008

And just what exactly did Omali Yeshitela, St. Petersburg's official village blowhard, expect police Officer Terrence Nemeth to do Saturday night as he confronted a teenager who had been firing a weapon into the air.

"I do say, old chap, would you be so kind as to drop your gun? Now that's a good fellow. Bully! Just bully!"

And when Javon Maurice Dawson turned and ran, firing a shot at Nemeth, did Yeshitela, a poor man's Al Sharpton-lite, think the officer would simply conclude: "Oh, drat. Now I'll have to give him a good speaking to!"

You don't need to be some streetwise tough of the inner city to know it is axiomatic that cops really, really, really don't like people pointing guns at them. Even an elderly Cape Cod reclusive doyenne knows that when you confront law enforcement with a weapon absolutely no good will result.

Under any circumstances, Dawson should have known the St. Petersburg police officers who showed up late Saturday night to calm down a large, raucous crowd gathered at the Shining Light Masonic Lodge on Freemont Terrace South would not appreciate the presence of weapons.

On Alert

But just some 12 hours earlier two Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies had been shot and wounded in an effort to arrest Orlando Bello Garcia, who had just killed his wife and two other victims.

After a shoot-out, Bello had been killed by law enforcement, so it probably makes sense the St. Petersburg police officers were just that much more alert as they approached the crowd and heard the sound of gunfire they said came from the 17-year-old Dawson as he discharged a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson.

When Dawson failed to comply with Nemeth's order to drop his weapon, the youth attempted to flee, firing at the officer over his shoulder as he ran away, police said. Bad move.
Nemeth returned fire.

Calling Matlock

At the moment, as is common in these sorts of situations, the shooting of Dawson is being investigated by the St. Petersburg Police Department and the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office.

It would also probably come as no surprise if the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the U.S. attorney, Greenpeace, the Visiting Nurse Association and Matlock eventually get involved just to make everyone happy.

Meanwhile, the opportunistic International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, led by Jesse Jackson wannabe Omali Yeshitela demonstrated outside the police department in an effort to exploit racial tensions in the wake of Dawson's death.

This is the same Omali Yeshitela who cowed a gutless city hall some years ago to name a community center after the late TyRon Lewis, a drug-dealing car thief who was shot and killed by police officers when he tried to run over a cop in a stolen car.

The death of Dawson is a tragedy for his family. It appears a young man foolishly challenged a police officer and paid a horrible price with his life.

And in death his memory has become the coin of the realm of a race-bating huckster.

Maybe Yeshitela can get the new Rays baseball field named after the teen. Don't laugh.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT