VOLUME 5 ISSUE 9
$2 ‘Ocala Gazette’ School sales tax to be on the ballot at the sues MCSO same time as county’s penny sales tax MARCH 1 - MARCH 7, 2024
over video of jail inmate’s death at hands of deputies By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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he “Ocala Gazette” has filed a lawsuit in Marion County Circuit Court against the Marion County Sheriff ’s Office over its refusal to release public records relating to the Nov. 25, 2022 death of inmate Scott Whitley in the Marion County jail. The “Gazette” seeks to obtain surveillance footage from Whitley’s jail cell that purportedly shows several detention deputies using what his family claims was excessive force against the inmate to gain his compliance. Over the course of the 12-minute altercation that led to Whitley’s death, the nine officers involved deployed tasers 27 times and used pepper foam and physical force to subdue him. The medical examiner’s office ruled Whitley’s death a homicide as a result of “cardiac arrhythmia during physical restraint by law enforcement.” With the lawsuit filed on Feb. 28, the “Gazette” asks the court to hold an immediate hearing in accordance with the Public Records Act; to find that the records the newspaper is seeking are subject to disclosure; to find that MCSO had a duty to disclose these records; to find that MCSO’s delay in releasing the records was unjustified; to find that MCSO’s refusal to release the records was unlawful; to order MCSO to permit the “Gazette” access to the footage without delay; and to award the “Gazette” compensation for attorney’s fees, costs and expenses accrued. Jennifer Hunt Murty, publisher for the “Gazette” explained why the newspaper was filing suit as a matter of public interest. “I think the reason this jail cell video needs to be considered publicly is so that we are faced with what happens to the mentally ill when families don’t have the resources to care for them. Once we acknowledge the situation, we can have a robust and honest conversation about how we can fix it. We need to have this conversation not only to help those afflicted and their families, but also for the sake of law enforcement who we’ve essentially dumped the problem on without the resources to handle,” Murty said. MCSO has indicated all further communications regarding Whitely shall go through attorneys and declined a meeting to discuss the matter. Whitley, 46, was diagnosed as schizophrenic and bipolar and was being held as a suicide precaution inmate. Whitley was denied his medication and was kept naked and alone without bedding, forced to sleep on a concrete slab. See MCSO, page A2
File photo: Students leave West Port High School in Ocala after the last bell on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.
By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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n Nov. 5 when voters go to cast their ballots, they’ll have two taxes to decide on—one for funding new schools and another for funding new roads. A half-cent sales tax has been set in motion by the school board to be placed on the 2024 general election ballot for voters to approve. This will be the second of two taxes that will appear on the ballot for voters to decide on, the other is the county’s penny sales tax to fund infrastructure and public safety—most notably for a number of
major road projects to help ease traffic as Marion County grows. The school half-cent tax is intended to fund capital projects, such as building new schools and constructing new wings for existing schools, for the school district and is proposed for a 10-year period. District staff has recommended that five new schools and nine new wings to existing schools need to be constructed over the next 15 years to sustain growth. The cost for this new construction in addition to necessary maintenance and renovations to other schools will cost the district about $1.8 billion, $1 billion of which needs funding. “I think the data has shown that
we need a half-cent (increase in the) sales tax on the next ballot, and I would recommend that to be for the 2024 ballot for long term,” said Superintendent Diane Gullett when the school board decided to pursue the tax. Voters previously approved a sales tax for schools in 2004, which expired in 2009. The district has collected a total of $111,164,680 in revenue from the tax since 2004, including in interest from 2010 until the present. Marion County currently has a sales tax of 7%. If voters approve a half-cent sales tax for schools, the tax will be added on top of the existing tax. The county’s See School, page A8
Fatal crash leaves questions about City emergency communications By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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t 8:23:54 p.m. on Feb. 19, the Ocala Police Department indicates it received a call about a crash involving two vehicles--a car and an SUV--in the 1500 block of Southeast 36th Avenue. The accident blocked traffic throughout the night and the debris was still being cleaned from the road in the hour leading up to school starting at the nearby Ocala Christian Academy. In a post to its Facebook account following the incident, OPD reported: “When OPD arrived, the car was fully engulfed in flames. OFR arrived and extinguished the flames within minutes. Sadly, two people from the car, a male and female, were declared deceased at the scene. The male was ejected from the vehicle. The SUV was driven by a juvenile (who) was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.” OPD spokesperson Jeff Walczak answered email inquiry from the “Gazette” about the timing of the response. “The crash occurred right around 8:23, the reported time was 8:23:54 and officers were on-scene at 8:26:14. There were also off-duty officers in the area and on-scene right after the crash and prior to on-duty personnel arriving.” Ocala Fire Rescue station is located a short distance from the scene of the accident. Their records reflect that their
personnel arrived at the crash site at 8:30 p.m., or a little more than six minutes after the emergency call came in. It should be noted that sometimes emergency personnel are responding to multiple calls and therefore cannot always immediately shift their direction. However, one contributing factor that may have slowed the OFR response is that the department wasn’t notified of the accident until 8:25 p.m., more than a minute after OPD took the 911 call. 911 calls in Ocala are routed through OPD and Ocala Fire Rescue’s dispatch works in the same room with OPD’s dispatchers. The “Gazette” asked OPD why there was a lag in notifying OFR about the collision. Deputy Chief Lou Biondi told the “Gazette” the department was investigating the situation. The “Gazette” has also requested from Marion County Fire Rescue what time it was notified of the call to send an ambulance. The “Gazette” asked Biondi if there any analysis is regularly performed on the time it takes between a 911 call to OPD and the dispatch of OFR units. Biondi indicated that each department does its own analysis and that he was not aware of any joint agency effort to examine this question. OPD is managed by Mayor Ben Marciano; Ocala City Manager Pete Lee oversees OFR. Marciano responded to the “Gazette’s” inquiry promptly and said he was
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unaware of the lag in communications but he would look into what happened since that falls under his purview. Walczak wrote the Gazette, “We are still going through everything and investigating the case, so the 911 calls and crash report is not available at this time. We will release information as soon as it’s available to do so.” City attorney William Sexton also indicated by email that the OPD was within its rights not to explain the circumstances while the investigation is continuing. On Feb. 20, OPD posted this on social media: “We are requesting the community’s assistance regarding last night’s deadly crash on SE 36th Ave. If you were in the area of the incident, around 8:20 p.m. and may have witnessed the event, or if you have any relevant home surveillance footage including Ring cameras, please come forward. We are seeking information from anyone who observed the vehicles involved, a white Mazda Miata and a gray Mercedes SUV, at any moment on SE 36th Ave.— especially if you noticed any instances of erratic driving.” The post noted that “every piece of evidence or testimony can be crucial in piecing together the details of this incident, and we greatly appreciate your cooperation in this ongoing investigation.” Anyone with information is asked to call OPD at (352) 369-7000 or Crime Stoppers at (352) 368-7867.
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