Latest news with #TheTributary
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
‘Disgusting': Mom of Duval County Jail inmate who later died speaks about her son's medical records
The mother of an inmate who died after an incident inside the Duval County Jail is speaking out about what's in her son's medical records. Last week, Charles Faggart's medical records were first obtained and reported by The Tributary, which shared the records with Action News Jax. The records reveal Faggart's condition when he was admitted to the hospital and show he had several fractures and internal injuries before he died. Faggart's mom Tracey Karpas said it took her nearly 3 hours to read through the records. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] 'The report was disgusting to me,' Karpas said. 'The amount of injures that my son incurred was disgusting.' She said after looking through them, she learned her son did not have fentanyl in his system or have a seizure leading up to his death, contradicting the redacted Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report that said officers witnessed Faggart suffer a seizure and it also said he told them he had taken fentanyl. 'The first thing I saw was no trace of fentanyl in his system,' Karpas said. 'Brain activity report from the medical report, shows no history of a seizure at all.' [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] She also said those medical records show that Faggart had taser barbs removed from his back, something that was not listed in JSO's redacted report. Karpas told Action News Jax she just wants justice for her son. Action News Jax reached out to JSO on Tuesday for an update on the investigation. JSO said it continues to be an active investigation, and no further information is available at this time. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Medical records of Duval County Jail inmate who later died show inconsistencies with JSO report
Medical records first obtained by The Tributary are showing a clearer picture of the condition of an inmate who died after an incident in the Duval County Jail. It's been one month since Charles Faggart was taken from the jail to the hospital, where he died from his injuries days later. The incident that happened before Faggart's death led to nine Jacksonville Sheriff's Office employees being removed from their positions and being stripped of their corrections authority. Faggart's medical records were first obtained and reported by The Tributary, which shared the records with Action News Jax. The Tributary is a local 'nonprofit newsroom producing high-impact government accountability and investigative journalism in the public interest,' its website states. RELATED: Inmate who died after an incident inside the Duval Co. Jail laid to rest The records paint a more graphic picture than what JSO unveiled when it released a redacted incident report. According to the medical records, on April 7, Faggart was suffering from cardiac arrest when emergency medical services (EMS) first arrived on the scene at the Duval County Jail. EMS immediately began administering CPR and intubated him. RELATED: Report reveals incident that preceded Duval inmate Charles Faggart's death stretched over 2 hours Faggart was transported to the hospital. When he arrived, the report then states Faggart had taser barbs removed from his back, something that was not listed in JSO's redacted report. The records also state that Faggart did not suffer a seizure and did not have fentanyl in his system. The JSO report said officers witnessed Faggart suffer a seizure and it also says he told them he had taken fentanyl. The medical records also state Faggart had nasal bone fractures, facial fractures, rib fractures, bruising, acute kidney and liver injuries, and he was 'unresponsive.' RELATED: Sources tell Action News Jax what happened in Duval County Jail prior to inmate's death We reached out to JSO on Wednesday for an interview to comment on these findings. The agency declined but did release the following statement: 'The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office understands that certain members of the public would like information about the facts gathered in the investigation into Mr. Charles Faggart's death immediately. JSO has not and will not release details of the gathered evidence nor protected medical records. Releasing information about evidence in this case before the criminal investigation is completed would be contrary to the law and the agency's duty to protect the integrity of the criminal investigation. Likewise, JSO will not comment in any way on what is being purported as evidence, as doing so would hinder the criminal investigation's integrity. 'Sheriff Waters has repeatedly stated that when the criminal investigation is completed, he will share that information with, first, the Faggart family, and then, the public. Thorough death investigations take time and multi-agency coordination. The SAO continues its independent criminal investigation. Likewise, the FBI continues to provide support. JSO's primary responsibility is to complete a comprehensive investigation and provide the Faggart family with the answers concerning their loved one's passing.' Chris Carson is a criminal defense attorney with many years of experience. He said the type of injuries Faggart sustained, according to the report, and the setting he was in when it happened, suggest they were blunt force trauma injuries. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] 'It is suggestive that there was some type of serious potential confrontation that resulted in likely punches, kicks or some other use of force,' Carson said. We asked Carson what, after reading the injuries in the report, he could tell about what could come from JSO's investigation. 'It means that they're going to have to take a hard look at if the force was indeed utilized by an employee of the sheriff's office, there is going to be, and there needs to be an extensive review of whether that force was legitimate force or whether that force went beyond what would be permissible,' Carson said. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] We asked Carson if he saw inconsistencies between JSO's redacted report from what the medical report states. 'It's kind of hard to say from the reports, but I suspect a lot of that will be forthcoming as this all goes forward,' Carson said. We reached out to the Faggart family attorney for a statement on Wednesday. As of the publication of this article, they have not gotten back to us. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Miami Herald
17-04-2025
- Miami Herald
‘Significant errors': Sheriff suspends Miami school district's bus camera program
The controversial school bus camera ticketing program that sent $225 fines to drivers in Miami-Dade County is being suspended, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announced Thursday. The program started in May and has since impacted more than 100,000 drivers accused of illegally passing stopped school buses after the vehicles' stop arms were extended. The sheriff pointed to major errors in tickets that were issued and the inability of people to appeal their citations for the cancellation of the program. 'Unfortunately, upon extensive review of the program, we've identified significant errors in the [Uniform Traffic Violations] that were issued and mailed by BusPatrol,' Cordero-Stutz said during a press briefing at the sheriff office's Doral headquarters. 'These errors are unacceptable, and they undermine both the fairness and the trust of the system.' A joint investigation by the Miami Herald and The Tributary, a Florida-based not-for-profit newsroom, published in early March found that many motorists who did nothing wrong were receiving violation notices and were unable to challenge them. The investigation also revealed the contract with BusPatrol, the company that administers the program, was signed in a hasty manner by the school district, without a bidding process. The contract, which generates revenue for the district, was signed just 12 days after the school board asked staff to do a 'feasibility study' on the program. The School Bus Safety Program kickstarted last year, with BusPatrol installing cameras on all Miami-Dade school buses to catch motorists in the act of illegally passing a school bus with its 'stop-arm' extended. Revenue numbers provided by the school district indicate the program was flagging more than 407 paid violations per day, seven days a week, generating a staggering $19.5 million in the first six months of the program. Soon after the Herald/Tributary report, Cordero-Stutz announced she was suspending enforcement of some of the tickets after receiving complaints. 'Break in the chain of communication' At the Thursday press conference, Cordero-Stutz pointed out more problems with the program. Many of the Uniform Traffic Citations issued did not have the correct citation number on them and the wrong fee amount, making it 'impossible for our community to resolve their violations within the required 30-day period by either paying the correct fine or requesting an appeal,' she said. The errors meant thousands of people also faced having their driver's licenses suspended. This is because the fees on the citations were actually amounts for what are known as 'Notice of Violations' — a $225 fine. A Uniform Traffic Citation fine is $344. When people who received tickets for passing a stopped bus paid the $225, the system still showed they owed $119, and the state received a notice that their driver's licenses should be suspended, Juan Fernandez-Barquin, Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, said during the briefing. And, since the numbers on the citations were wrong, when people came in to the Clerk of the Court's office to file an appeal for their tickets, staff couldn't even find it in the system. 'It's this break in the chain of communication, in not just the amount, but even in the ability to identify the ticket, that puts these people in a precarious situation,' Fernandez-Barquin said. The break in the chain of communication goes as far back as the language of the law allowing school bus camera programs statewide. A statement from the Miami-Dade Courts from April 8 said that in similar legislation where technology is used to detect traffic infractions, such as the state's red light camera law and school zone speed detection law, challenges are not heard by the courts but by county administrative staff who are assigned to preside as 'local hearing officers.' But in school bus camera law, the burden of hearing complaints 'was placed on the courts without providing funding for the appointment of more judges or hearing officers to handle this new volume of cases,' leading to delays, the statement said. Cordero-Stutz said that her deputies' role in the program was to review Notices of Violations sent to the department by BusPatrol. If the deputies confirmed a driver did illegally pass a school bus, a Uniform Traffic Citation was mailed to that person, Cordero-Stutz said. Cordero-Stutz sent a letter to BusPatrol Thursday, which was shared with the Miami Herald, informing the company that deputies would no longer be reviewing violation notices. 'Our commitment to traffic safety and the needs of our community remains unwavering. It is, however, equally critical that enforcement programs operate with the highest levels of accuracy, transparency and public trust,' Cordero-Stutz wrote. The sheriff said at the briefing that the sheriff's office has asked BusPatrol to identify how the errors occurred. 'Concerns must be fully investigated and resolved,' she said. Miami-Dade County Public Schools says they have been informed that the sheriff's office has discontinued the program, and that they are still determining next steps. Drivers who have received either Notices of Violations or Uniform Traffic Citations under the program prior to Thursday's announcement must still pay the fines, the sheriff said. But, moving forward, the program is suspended, she said. Cordero-Stutz admitted this left people who already paid the fines with limited options. 'At this time, all I have to say is they have the opportunity to speak to their own personal attorney to seek what their rights are,' she said. Nandhini Srinivasan, an investigative reporting fellow with The Tributary, a Florida nonprofit investigative newsroom, contributed to this report.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
Lawsuit over policy-violating public strip search by Jacksonville police ends with settlement
A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit between the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and a man who was publicly strip-searched by officers. Court documents dated for the end of February show that the man who filed the lawsuit was dropping it after reaching a settlement with Sheriff T.K. Waters. Related: Jacksonville City Council approves measure to give sheriff a say in settlements involving JSO The lawsuit was filed after the man was inappropriately strip-searched on the side of a Jacksonville road in 2022. Video of the incident, first obtained by The Tributary, shows multiple JSO officers pulling down the man's pants and underwear, exposing his genitalia to onlookers. In the body camera video, he could be heard saying 'You can't bend me over like that bro. I know my rights. Police had believed that he was carrying illegal drugs. The Tributary reported that those drugs were never found, but he was charged with possession anyway. Those charges were later dropped. Action News Jax told you last year when three involved officers were disciplined for the conduct, which JSO said violated department policy. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] While Florida statute does authorize law enforcement to conduct strip searches for narcotics upon receiving written approval from a supervising officer, JSO policy only allowed corrections officers to conduct the searches. During the internal investigation at JSO, at least two of the three officers involved stated they didn't believe what they had done to the man during his arrest constituted a strip search, but after reviewing state statute, they came to believe it was a strip search. Those same two officers, Joel Belgard and Nicholas Hackley, both testified they were never trained on the agency's strip search policy. But according to JSO, all officers are trained on the agency's strip search policy. 'All police officers receive training concerning searches, to include that strip searches are to be performed by corrections officers rather than police officers,' said PIO for JSO in an emailed statement last year. The terms of the settlement were not immediately available upon Action News Jax' search of the court records. Read: 'Lot of questions': Family waiting for answers after mother killed outside Jacksonville daycare [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Miami Herald
04-03-2025
- Miami Herald
Miami drivers frustrated by school bus camera program. Who is responsible for fixing it?
The same day the Miami Herald and The Tributary published its investigation into the Miami-Dade school district's school bus safety program, superintendent Jose Dotres issued a memo addressing criticism of the program. In his memo released Friday, he instructed Ivan Silva, the chief of Miami-Dade Schools Police to work with the county sheriff's office to fix the citation review process. The Miami Herald/Tributary investigation revealed not only that drivers were being issued bogus tickets that many were unable to challenge, but also that the contract with BusPatrol, the company that administers the program, was signed in a hasty manner by the school district, without a bidding process. The contract, which generates revenue for the district, was signed just 12 days after the board asked staff to do a 'feasibility study' on the program. The program is a partnership between the school district, BusPatrol and the Miami-Dade sheriff's office. And while most of the parties to the partnership agree that the program needs fixing, there's no consensus as to how that will get done. So far, none of the school board members have made strong statements regarding the district's role in ensuring that the school bus safety program functions efficiently. Five of the nine board members ignored requests for comments from a reporter. None of the board members responded to how exactly they plan to address the problems drivers are experiencing with the program or if they feel like the partnership has overburdened the court system or the sheriff's department. As of Dec. 19, a staggering 120,000 drivers had received violation notices in Miami-Dade County for illegally passing extended school bus 'stop arms.' The courts have received over 1,000 notices from people who tried to contest their citation, but so far no drivers have been given a chance to make their case in front of a judge. The district never put out a bid to consider other companies, since the contract is 'revenue generating,' giving the district legal leeway to bypass the normal bidding process. At least 16 drivers who spoke to reporters said they have been issued violation notices for passing a school bus 'illegally,' when in fact they were obeying the law. The Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office, says that a staff of 25 officers reviews videos of drivers passing school buses each week, averaging 50-100 reviews an hour. But according to Detective AC Colome at the sheriff's office, the delays in scheduling hearings for drivers who want to contest the tickets were due to the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal 'not having the necessary mechanism for BusPatrol to process contestations, causing a delay in the process.' At the time of publication, the Miami Herald did not receive a response to a question about when the portal will be functioning properly. The Miami-Dade sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, who was elected in November, the first elected sheriff in decades, put a statement on social media on Saturday saying the BusPatrol program was 'causing understandable frustration in our community' and that they are working on addressing the issues, while also shifting responsibility away from herself, emphasizing the program was approved before she became sheriff. The deal is a 'good one' Jose Bueno, the chief of staff for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, said that the Herald's investigation raised eyebrows for the district, and that they will continue to 'monitor and evaluate the performance and impact.' Bueno also said that the district considered the deal with BusPatrol a 'good one,' because the district also got cameras installed inside the buses and the whole deal is at no cost to the district. 'This is costing taxpayers zero dollars for the school system, it is costing individuals breaking the law money, and at the end of the day it is saving lives,' said Bueno. But Bueno did agree that all drivers should be entitled to their day in court, and said that he will be reaching out to Silva to have schools police bring it to the attention of the Miami-Dade sheriff. 'We will have conversations with BusPatrol and the sheriff to be sure [the contract] is carried out,' he added. One of the drivers who got a BusPatrol violation in the mail is District 1 school board member Steve Gallon, who at the Feb. 12 school board meeting raised questions about the program and how the district is spending the revenue it has generated. He joked that he paid his ticket, contributing to said revenue. So far, the program has made $19.5 million, with the district taking home 30 percent, and BusPatrol keeping 70 percent. School board member Roberto Alonso also spoke at the February meeting and aligned himself with Gallon, asking the school district to provide a memo related to how BusPatrol revenue is being spent. In a text to a reporter, Alonso said he is working with the district since it is the district that procured the contract and they are responsible for managing it. He did not respond to a question about whether he feels a responsibility for the issues drivers face in contesting tickets. Gallon provided a statement saying that there are 'additional questions that I have about the district's role and responsibility in the program's implementation and impact on community stakeholders.' The chair of the school board Mari Tere Rojas of District 6 sent a statement which said the contract procurement process was proper. Rojas also shifted the blame away from the school district, saying they do not 'handle the issuance of violation notices or the appeals process for alleged violations.' Her statement also added that the 'external parties designated by the contract have stated that they are currently reviewing these processes.' Board member Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall did not address a reporter's question regarding the contract procurement process. Instead, the board member responded with an explanation about how the program is supposed to work within the law. During the February board meeting, Ron Steiger, the chief financial officer for the district, said that much of the revenue has been used to increase pay for bus drivers as well as implement GPS technology on school buses which allows parents to track the drop-off and pick-up timing of school buses. A document attached to the memo that Dotres issued Friday confirms that, and states that the district has earned over $6 million dollars so far from the program. Nandhini Srinivasan, an investigative fellow for The Tributary, contributed to this report.
