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Mom Of Teen Slain By Police Angered By Search Of Other Son

News Channel 8 photo by KATY HENNIG

Members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement in St. Petersburg, along with Keon Dawson, 14, and his mother Ollie Godfrey, speak to the press.

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By YOLANDA FERNANDEZ | News Channel 8
and STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 3, 2008

Updated: 09/03/2008 01:11 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Police received an anonymous tip Tuesday that Keon Dawson, the 14-year-old brother of police shooting victim Javon Dawson, had a gun on campus at Meadowland Middle School.

The information turned out to be false.

Now, Keon's mother is angry that she was not contacted before the boy was searched.

What's more, at a news conference today, the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement said the search is an example of police harassment of witnesses in the slaying of Javon Dawson.

St. Petersburg Police Department spokesman Bill Proffitt said Dawson was called into the principal's office, where the principal checked the boy's book bag. A campus police officer patted him down. And the boy's locker was checked.

One of the boy's parents was notified of what had occurred. Keon was cooperative during the investigation, Proffitt said. Afterward, he was sent back to class.

Keon's older brother Javon Dawson, 17, was fatally shot in the back by a St. Petersburg police officer June 7. Police said Dawson at the time was running away but pointing a firearm at the officer when the officer fired.

The officer has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, but Gov. Charlie Christ has ordered state law enforcement agents to take a look at the state attorney's investigation.

At a news conference today, the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement protested the treatment of Keon. They characterized the search for a gun as an example of police harassment of any witness associated with the death of Javon Dawson.

At the news conference, the Dawsons' mother, Ollie Godfrey, complained that she was not contacted Tuesday before police questioned her son.

Andrea Zahn, a spokeswoman for the Pinellas County School District, said that when school officials think students might be in jeopardy, they are obligated to act and can question a student without a parent or lawyer present.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com. Reporter Yolanda Fernandez can be reached at (727) 536-8443 or yfernandez@wfla.com.

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