http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/jan/31/1/police-looking-for-suspect-who-shot-killed-man-in–ar-353253/

Police looking for suspect who shot, killed man in Tampa 

Burglary

12-22082

1-11

0600-2035

57 6000 Blk River Terrace Sgt Peters, Squad 212

Unknown person(s) unlawfully kicked in the front door of the listed residence and removed approximately $3800 worth of property from within. The property included two flat screen televisions, a Mac book Pro (S/N obtained), and a Louis Vitton purse. A potential witness was located who described a white male in his twenties with dark hair seen in the house between 1400-1500 hours. CST responded and processed the scene. Print lifted.

S-25 Burglary

12-31 to 1-1

57 5900 Blk N. Highland

There is a possible known suspect in this case. The rear window of the victim’s residence was broken into and 2 televisions, a desktop computer, a Playstation 3 with 5 games, and approximately $2,000 US Currency were removed. No S/N’s available at this time.

1-2 1501

51 5910 N. Highland

The two defs. unlawfully entered the victim’s residence and stole approximately $1280 in electronics. Ofc J. Brown developed the suspect Martinez during his initial investigation. This information was passed on to ROC Ofcs Kamat and Bowie. On this date, they located both defs. and through further investigation and interviews developed probable cause for their arrest. They were both charged with burglary / grand theft and booked at Orient Rd jail. Efforts to recover the stolen property are ongoing.

TAMPA –

TAMPA In an effort to clean up some of Tampa’s most troubled neighborhoods, City Council members voted 6-1 this morning to let police confiscate the cars of anyone arrested for soliciting prostitutes or dealing drugs.

The new rule, which has the support of police, goes into effect immediately.

Councilwoman Mary Mulhern cast the lone dissenting vote.

On Dec. 1, Mulhern opposed the measure because, she said, it could pose a hardship for one-car families should a family member run afoul of the law. Anyone whose car is impounded will have to pay $500 plus towing fees to retrieve it.

This week, Mulhern reminded council members that previous attempts to impound vehicles of suspected johns have lost in court.

“I’m even more concerned about the legality of this,” Mulhern said. “It troubles me.”

Mulhern also was worried that the fines levied on impounded cars could encourage police to enforce the rule more aggressively than might be needed.

A previous incarnation of the impound ordinance, proposed by then-Councilman Bob Buckhorn in 1997, netted the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Now mayor, Buckhorn revived the measure this year on the heels or an ordinance banning panhandling on city streets every day except Sundays. Both measures confront quality-of-life issues arising out of tough economic times.

In a written statement, Buckhorn praised the council decision.

“At the end of the day, these offenders will have to go home, without their vehicles, and face their families and the consequences of breaking the law,” he said.

The city’s original impound ordinance’s fines supplemented the police budget. The new ordinance pumps those fines into the city’s operating budget.

Civil-rights advocates have fought similar rules elsewhere, noting that they turn the legal philosophy of innocent-until-proved-guilty on its head.

City attorneys have assured council members that the new rule will stand up to a court challenge.

Supporters of the impound rule argued it will clean up troubled neighborhoods and improve property values.

Councilwoman Yvonne Yolie Capin had little patience for arguments that the rule violated suspected johns’ civil rights.

“Neighborhood residents have civil right, too,” she said. “They have a right to live in safe neighborhoods.”

Tampa, FL December 2, 2011 -

Wanted Suspect: Darnell Keyon Ammons, B/M, DOB: 6/6/1990 armed with a black firearm

WHEN: 12/1/2011, 2:57 p.m.

WHERE: 406 East Selma Street

SUSPECT: Darnell Keyon Ammons, 6/6/1990, B/M, armed with a black firearm. A warrant has been issued for his arrest for Attempted 1st Degree Murder and Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony

SUSPECT: Shamiria Hardrick, 03/10/1989, B/F, 215 Moore Avenue East. Arrested on 12/1/2011.

CHARGES: Attempted 1st Degree Murder, Child Neglect, Carrying a Concealed Firearm

VICTIM: Dontavious Clark, 10/22/89, B/M, 1803 French Creek Road, Tampa

The victim and the suspect were involved in a verbal altercation on Selma Avenue. The suspect pulled out a gun and shot the victim more than one time in the upper body. The victim ran to 402 Selma Avenue. The suspect ran towards Robles Park.

Hardrick was charged for her involvement in the shooting of Dontavious Clark. She was walking with the suspect and handed the suspect the gun that he used to shoot the victim. She was pushing her two children in a stroller at the time. Detectives are still searching for the shooter, Darnell Ammons.

Clark is still listed in critical condition. Anyone with information is asked to call the Tampa Police Department at 813-231-6130 or Crime Stoppers for a $1,000 reward.

Nearly a dozen civic leaders from neighborhoods in or near East Tampa, Seminole Heights and Ybor City urged the council to pass the ordinance. They described finding used syringes in their yards, picking up used condoms and rubber gloves in gutters and alleys and seeing prostitutes dropped off within 10 yards of children waiting at school bus stops.

“We have a serious problem in East Tampa when it comes to prostitution and drugs that are being funnelled through that area,” said Essie Sims Jr., chairman of the East Tampa Partnership, an association of 15 neighborhood groups. “We want to help clean up our community the best we can.”

The city passed a similar law in 1997, championed by then-City Council member and current Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

“I think it was probably the most effective tool we’ve ever had to deal with street-level prostitution,” Buckhorn said this week.

But similar ordinances from around Florida have faced seven years of legal challenges, with cases from South Florida going to the state Supreme Court twice. Along the way, the city repealed its original ordinance, which still faces legal challenges of its own, and has since rewritten parts of it to put it on more legally defensible ground.

The city currently impounds vehicles when their drivers are arrested for a prostitution offense, but they are released after the owner pays the towing and storage costs, which are typically less than $150.

Under the new ordinance, the owner also would have to pay $500 to have the car released. Owners who don’t realize that a non-owner was going to use it to pick up a prostitute could pick it up without having to pay the $500.

Council members approved the ordinance 6-1, with Council member Mary Mulhern voting no. She said that she sympathizes with neighborhoods, but the down economy means that many families only have one car, and an increasingly number of families live out of their cars. That makes it a bad time to deprive the whole family the use of a car unless they have $500 because of the actions of one member, she said.

“I just don’t think we should be punishing individuals who have nothing to do with the crime,” she said.

But city officials and neighborhood representatives say the law is a useful tool that effectively targets the johns who are creating the demand for the prostitutes roaming their neighborhoods.

“We’ve got to send a message that this is not a victimless crime,” Buckhorn said. “The neighbors and the neighborhoods around these areas of high traffic prostitution are the victims in this.”

A final vote is schedule for 9:30 a.m. Dec.15.

Richard Danielson can be reached at Danielson@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3403.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/tampa-law-to-impound-cars-of-prostitutes-johns-wins-initial-approval/1204317

Mayor Bob Buckhorn wants to resurrect a controversial law that would give Tampa police officers the authority to impound vehicles of people trying to pick up prostitutes.

The law was repealed by city council last year, however, following court rulings determining that similar vehicle seizure laws in other Florida municipalities were illegal because they didn’t provide adequate notice to owners and lacked due process, among other issues.

But Buckhorn’s legal staff says recent court rulings have resolved language that rendered sections of the city’s previous law unconstitutional, and today they will ask city council to approve a proposed ordinance that would put the impound law back on the books.

Some council members say they support his proposal, others have reservations.

“Right now, I’m leaning toward supporting it, but I still have some questions about how it would work,” Councilwoman Lisa Montelione said Wednesday.

The proposed ordinance, if approved by the council, would also give police officers the authority to impound cars and other vehicles used in street-level drug sales.

Those charged under the impound law would be required to pay a $500 penalty to get their vehicles out of a lot. Defendants would have the ability to challenge the impound charges before a county circuit court judge. If a court hearing isn’t scheduled within five business days, the vehicle would be released to its owner, with no penalty charged.

As a councilman in 1997, Buckhorn proposed the vehicle impound law as part of an all-out assault on prostitution that included a package of law enforcement initiatives.

Thousands of vehicles were seized under the impound rule, which netted the police department an average of $400,000 a year, according to city estimates. The money was to buy police equipment and fund training for officers.

Buckhorn said the impound law took huge bite out of street-level prostitution and drug sales in afflicted neighborhoods because it used “public shame” as a crime deterrent.

“You’ll have to explain to your wife or boss why you lost your vehicle,” he said recently.

But the city stopped enforcing the law in 2003, following a Florida 4th District Court of Appeal decision stemming from a lawsuit filed against city of Hollywood that challenged the legality of a similar law. In that case, the appeal court ruled that Hollywood’s ordinance clashed with state laws, which allow for seizing cars only when a felony is committed.

Even though the city repealed the law, Tampa police officers were still able to seize vehicles of suspected drug dealers and other illegal activities under a state law.

The city council meets at 9 a.m. in old City Hall at 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown.