Posted on 01/27/2015 9:02:52 AM PST by Iron Munro
TAMPA — At first, Dawn Bryan blamed the goat on the back porch.
She figured the repeated “thunks” she heard was the animal hopping onto and off the picnic table. The noise continued and she went outside to investigate. Just then, she said, a window next to her shattered.
That, she thought, was not the goat.
Rather, according to Bryan and a Hillsborough County sheriff’s report, it was a neighbor and a buddy of his firing an AK 47 rifle in a back yard that abuts Bryan’s property on Porter Road in Lithia.
The neighbor, Scott Radford, is a Hillsborough County firefighter; his friend, Paul Adee, is a Hillsborough County sheriff’s detention deputy and son of sheriff’s Maj. Paul Adee, a supervisor at the jail.
Bryan called the law and a deputy came out to investigate, but nobody was charged, even though several rounds punctured Bryan’s home — that she knows of — including one that shattered a window above a toddler’s crib. The child was not in the crib at the time.
An AK 47 spent round lay on the floor of the porch, she said. It was not collected as evidence, she said.
Sheriff’s officials say the case remains open and charges still could be filed.
Maj. Paul Adee declined to comment other than to say he wasn’t involved; his son couldn’t be reached for comment.
“I don’t want to say anything,” said Radford, when reached late Monday afternoon.
That no charges were filed, and no real investigation was conducted, Bryan said, is because the shooters were a deputy and a firefighter.
“They got favorable treatment,” Bryan said Monday. “My house got blown up by an AK 47. “I have to tell you, I was hysterical at the time.”
The shooters told the deputies they did not intend to target Bryan’s house, she said, that they weren’t aware the rounds would travel that far.
The deputies returned with Radford in tow, she said.
“He shook my hand and apologized,” she said. “He admitted he did it. Then the cops look at me and say, ‘OK, so, we’re good, right?’ I asked, ‘What about charges?’ and the deputy says he called his sergeant and there would be no charges.
“We’re not talking about a BB gun here,” she said. “This was an AK 47 that could have struck my children.”
Radford agreed to pay for the damage, she said. But with no charges or citations, she said, who is going to make him?
“I don’t think I’m going to see squat,” she said. “I’m a single mother. I don’t have money to pay for this. They were completely reckless.”
She counted nine holes in her house, plus a bullet in the aluminum frame of her pool cage. She hadn’t checked the roof yet or if there were bullets at the bottom of her pool.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter said she couldn’t discuss the case in detail because it’s under investigation and that criminal charges still could be filed.
“This is still an active case,” she said. “The allegation was that there were a couple individuals on their own property, shooting at a berm. One neighbor alleged a couple of the bullets came over to their property and caused some damage to the house.
“The case is not completed yet,” she said. “It is ongoing and there still could be charges coming out of this.”
Any internal discipline, she said, would come after the case is closed.
Tampa attorney and former prosecutor John Fitzgibbons said the sheriff’s office should not be looking into this incident, as it involves one of their own.
“The more prudent approach to avoid any appearance of impropriety would be to have an independent agency investigate this matter,” he said.
He said if there was no clear intent to shoot at the house, and “if there were no statutes prohibiting the discharge of firearms within the area, then from all accounts this simply looks like an accidental situation. Strictly speaking, on the criminal side, I just would not expect criminal charges to be filed here.
“Fortunately nobody was injured,” he said. “If someone had been injured or killed, then I would think most prosecutors would bring charges based on a culpable negligence or manslaughter theory.”
Bryan might have to resort to filing a claim in civil court if her neighbor doesn’t pay the cost of repairs, Fitzgibbons said.
“I think that there could certainly be a civil lawsuit component to this for the damages to her house or the emotional distress, he said.
Bryan said she’s a single mother of 13 children, 10 of them adopted, and is struggling to make ends meet. Her children range in age from 2 to 20, and, fortunately, only two were home at the time. No one was injured.
“It was the first time in five years,” she said, “that there were not many kids here.
“It was my birthday and that’s what my friends did for me,” she said. “They took the kids so I could wake up and have a quiet morning.”
Bryan said many of her neighbors have and use guns responsibly and that she herself owns and shoots guns. Gunshots pop periodically through weekends and has become background noise that nobody pays attention to, she said.
“We all shoot out here,” she said. “But you’re supposed to have proper backstops. A cop and a fireman should know what the law is.
“They were in the yard of the house directly behind me,” she said, adding there is a good distance between structures. “But definitely not enough room to be shooting an AK 47 through my kid’s bedroom window.”
Real rednecks would march this fellow over to her house checkbook in hand.
To a certain extent, the police are not there to arrest the bad guys.
The police are there to intimidate the law-abiding citizens. It's about control.
Paging Eric Holder, paging ...
crickets
“Oh, circle the wagons because for sure they’re gonna sue.”
Have they considered the reason for all the suing is partly because they won’t do the right thing in the first place?
“They got favorable treatment,” Bryan said Monday. “My house got blown up by an AK 47. “I have to tell you, I was hysterical at the time.”
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The cops are not your friend here, lady. Especially since the shooter is a friend and buddy of the sheriff.
Make two calls. First, your insurance company. Then your lawyer.
Having this already in the press was a great start.
You’d think orgs like the NRA would be real emphatic about how to be empathetic with your neighbor. If your gun does some unintended damage, fix it yesterday inasmuch as possible.
Too late to return fire....I suppose.
Insurance company is probably going to minimize, even try to keep it under the deductible. May be no help at all.
She should call the Public Integrity Section in the Department of Justice.
I’m not so sure. A good insurance company will write you a big fat check for the damages. Then they will subrogate and sue the responsible party.
Really???
See that picture upthread one more time. She don’t look like no “sista” to me.
Another possibility might be state police (higher authority level) and her local political representatives. Don’t go quietly into the good night.
Minus deductible... they are going to be talking about cosmetic patches to siding, etc. and it doesn’t usually cost a lot to replace glass.
She needs to raise holy hell. Call the IS Marshalls or bathe.
Then again, when it comes to neighbors you have to really be sure you what you want to declare war over.
Bryan said she’s a single mother of 13 children, 10 of them adopted, and is struggling to make ends meet.
Sounds weird to me, something odd about this.
Sometimes shaming is the only thing that can get to a corrupt authority who needs the votes.
Could be a welfare player... still if she has done nothing illegal, she shouldn’t be the one under the microscope. Blame the welfare laws for the perverse incentives.
LOL Rage, rage...
,p> And hell could freeze over tonight. If I were a betting man, my money would be on hell freezing over.
By the same token, if it happened to be two kids from Dover that shot the house, they would be under the jail by now.
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