A Hillsborough County sheriff s deputy was heading east on Interstate 4 in his red Dodge Charger on a brilliantly sunny afternoon in Florida when he saw him: A young driver behind the wheel of a Jeep texting on his phone.
The deputy, Donald Hess, didn t hit his lights and siren right away. He watched over more than a mile while he pulled around both sides of the Jeep, he said, as the driver kept texting before he pulled him over on the I-4 shoulder. When the driver rolled down his window, the deputy waved away a cloud of smoke. How much weed have you all been smoking? the deputy said. The reason I stopped you is for you using your texting while you’re driving. His police body camera captured video from the stop as Hess mimicked texting with his left thumb.
Florida’s census of texting violations, published earlier this year, is missing tickets entirely from more than 20 of the state’s 67 sheriff’s departments and at least 56 of 155 municipal police departments.
This frame grab from police body cam video shows Hillsborough County sheriff s deputy Donald Hess gesturing to driver Antonio Sims Jr., 25, of Tampa during a traffic stop along Interstate 4 on Nov. 18, 2020. Hess ticketed Sims $113 for violating Florida s new texting-while-driving law, which is rarely enforced statewide.
A Hillsborough County sheriff s deputy was heading east on Interstate 4 in his red Dodge Charger on a brilliantly sunny afternoon in Florida when he saw him: A young driver behind the wheel of a Jeep texting on his phone.
The deputy, Donald Hess, didn t hit his lights and siren right away. He watched over more than a mile while he pulled around both sides of the Jeep, he said, as the driver kept texting before he pulled him over on the I-4 shoulder. When the driver rolled down his window, the deputy waved away a cloud of smoke.
Data: Florida s New Law Against Texting While Driving Rarely Enforced usf.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from usf.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BRADENTON – Manatee County Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge had been on the job for only 50 hours when he walked into County Administrator Cheri Coryea’s office on Nov. 19 and told her she needed to resign or be fired.
Coryea, who has more than three decades of experience negotiating what is sometimes a minefield that is Manatee County politics, took scrupulous notes of her conversation with Van Ostenbridge, who told the administrator he had the votes to fire her.
Van Ostenbridge was one of four commissioners who decided last month that Coryea needed to go, for reasons that have never been fully explained.