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Officials say a Pinellas County deputy was killed overnight in a hit-and-run crash at a construction site on Interstate 275 near Roosevelt Boulevard. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has announced the suspect in the hit-and-run death of a deputy was taken into custody after an eight-hour search in the Ulmerton Road and I-275 area. According to Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Deputy Michael Hartwick, 51, was killed when he was struck by a front-end loader being driven by a construction worker just after 10:30 p.m. Thursday night. The suspect was initially believed to be Victor Vasquez-Real by deputies. The individual allegedly...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WTVD) -- McDonald's worker Yasmine James remains on leave after a brawl with a customer, allegedly about a straw, was caught on camera. The viral video shows the customer, Daniel Taylor, reach over the counter and grab James by the shirt. James responded by punching Taylor several times. He is facing battery charges. James said she's not physically hurt, but emotionally scarred after being left to defend herself. "I didn't have any control over my body when he grabbed me," James said. "Like, I'm scared. Like, why are you grabbing me? I just didn't understand his intentions."...

An aggressive panhandler from St. Petersburg is in jail after reportedly attacking one of the city's top cops, and it was all caught on camera. There's no shortage of food and foot traffic along downtown St. Pete's Central Avenue. "There's a park behind us, we have the ocean near us, it's a great place to dine, enjoy yourself," said Eric Shippie, assistant manager at The Oyster Bar. But police warn that the busy outdoor dining scene can be a target for street beggars. "I was just thinking this beautiful day just got a lot worse," said Assistant Chief Jim Previtera,...

There are some serious questions about what happened in the hours leading up to three teenagers dying in a Florida pond after police dashcam video was released of the incident. The video shows the marsh-like pond is too thick for deputies to save the girls early in the morning of March 31st. In a press conference the following day, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his deputies took off their belts, rushing into the water to try and save them, but were hindered by mucky conditions But dashcam video only shows the officers standing near the pond, watching the girls'...

A 20-year-old driver was able to elude Pinellas County deputies at a traffic stop, but then was bitten by an alligator early Thursday. Deputies pulled over a vehicle that was not staying in a lane about 2:47 a.m. Thursday. Bryan Zuniga, 20, stopped the vehicle, but then jumped out of the passenger side door. Zuniga kicked a hole in a vinyl fence so he could escape, deputies said, near the 7100 block of 78th Avenue N. He was found hours later at a hospital being treated for multiple puncture wounds to his face, arm and armpit, police said. He told...

ST. PETE, Fla. - Customers who come to the St. Pete Bank of America on Third St. S will be greeted by protesters telling them to take their money else where. Occupy St. Pete Elders will host a demonstration at the bank Friday to urge customers to ditch big corporate banks for credit unions or small community banks instead.Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_south_pinellas/st_petersburg/occupy-st-pete-elders-demonstrating-against-big-banks-at-bank-of-america-today#ixzz1oe2XTspU

A fifteen-year-old student pilot apparently trying to recreate the 9/11 kamikaze attack on the World Trade Center slammed a stolen Cessna 172 private airplane Saturday into Tampa, Florida's Bank of America building, the city's tallest structure. Charles J. Bishop, a 15-year-old flight student from Great Britain, stole the small aircraft from Albert Whitted Municipal Airport in nearby St. Petersburg at about 5 p.m., law enforcement sources said. Bishop was killed as the Cessna carrying 56 gallons of fuel slammed into the Bank of America tower, leaving the tail section of the plane dangling precariously from its side. The fuel did ...

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida - A veteran officer with a clean record is being investigated by the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) after he warned the father of a robbery victim about a dangerous part of town. Officer Thad "Stu" Crisco, who was recently in headlines for honoring his fallen partner David Crawford, allegedly warned St. Petersburg father Bob Esposito about letting his 16-year-old daughter hang around the Northshore Pool at night. Esposito's daughter was one of five teens robbed by a group of armed men there about 10:30 p.m. on a recent weeknight. "I wouldn't come down here at night,"...

St. Petersburg Police are looking for a stolen car that was taken with a 1-year-old child in the back seat. Police said the red 2010 Dodge Charger was taken at about 4:15 p.m. from the area of 1st Avenue North and 17th Street. The car has an out-of-state license plate.

SNIP Two men spotted what they think could be oil from the BP disaster off a Pinellas County beach while returning home from a fishing trip Sunday morning. The men, Steve Weiss and David Mokotoff, said they were about four to five miles off Pass-a-Grille beach when they spotted what they believed was an oil sheen on the water. “We saw this ribbon of orange brown material,” Mokotoff said. “Steve initially thought it might be discharge from somebody’s boat, but then when we got closer it was so long, even though it wasn’t wide we thought about the oil spill...

The St. Petersburg Times will offer an enhanced retirement option to reduce its payroll and, depending on response, could resort to layoffs later this year. The newspaper also is imposing a one-year wage freeze for remaining employees. In a letter to staff, Times editor and chairman Paul Tash said the measures were a response to a “difficult economic climate” that has been especially hard on advertising, the largest source of newspaper revenue. Over the last two years, the Times’ fulltime staff has dropped from more than 1,500 to fewer than 1,300, mostly by attrition. “We are navigating a period of...

The St. Petersburg Times will be seriously redefined on May 19. That's when the paper will implement changes designed to emphasize material readers have told us they value most in the weekday paper and bring down costs. The big changes: Floridian, our daily features section, will publish just on Sundays, while our business section will merge with our B section metro news in a new section. TV listings, comics, Dear Abby, crossword puzzles and the more popular syndicated elements of our features section will move to a new section called BayLink. As always, when circumstances compel the Times to reimagine...

It has been said that 80 percent of all the mosques and Islamic centers inside the United States are financially and spiritually tied to a radical form of Islam originating from Saudi Arabia. This ideology, identified as Wahhabism, does not promote the inclusion of persons into democratic society. One of the American locations that Wahhabi influence has been overtly prevalent is the Tampa-St. Pete area of Southwest Florida. It is here that Sami Al-Arian, a college professor, created a wide-ranging operation that assisted in terrorist activity abroad, through Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Within Al-Arian’s universe lies a little known mosque, which...