Homeless man arrested for charging phone in park
By Lee Williams
Published: Monday, November 12, 2012 at 1:13 p.m.
A homeless man spent the night in jail Sunday after police arrested him for charging his cellphone in a public picnic shelter at Gillespie Park.
Darren Kersey, 28, was charged with theft of utilities after Sarasota Police Sgt. Anthony Frangioni spotted him charging his phone at about 9:20 p.m. Sunday. Unable to come up with the $500 bail for the misdemeanor, Kersey had no choice but to stay in jail.
In his arrest report, Frangioni wrote that he told Kersey that the
“theft of city utilities will not be tolerated during this bad economy.” Frangioni also told Kersey that he should charge his phone at local shelters, according to the report.
But Monday morning Circuit Judge Charles Williams threw the case out, saying Frangioni lacked the legal justification to make the arrest.
Frangioni, a 14-year veteran of the Sarasota Police Department, did not return calls or emails seeking comment for this story. Neither did City Manager Thomas Barwin.
Police spokesman Capt. Paul Sutton said Chief Mikel Hollaway, who was off Monday, will be reviewing the case today. Following the review the department is expected to issue a statement, Sutton said.
The arrest threatens to add to a rolling battle between Sarasota and the American Civil Liberties Union, which have clashed over various homeless issues.
Last spring, the ACLU accused police of violating the civil rights of more than 6,500 people over four years by using trespassing warnings to shoo people off downtown sidewalks. After a lawsuit was filed, the city suspended its program and is in the process of rewriting portions of its trespass ordinance.
The interaction between police and the homeless is the top priority for the local ACLU, said Michael Barfield, who heads the legal panel for the organization’s Sarasota chapter.
“We have been monitoring the efforts to root the homeless out of the parks, and have several actions planned against the city,” Barfield said. “So much happens on a daily basis, it’s hard to keep up with it. Every day there’s something new.”
The city’s policies toward the homeless have garnered unwanted attention through the years. In 2006, Sarasota was called the “meanest city” in the nation by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, but eventually disappeared from the organizations’ lists.
It is not difficult for homeless advocates to point out that people with money are treated differently by city officials:
for those able to afford an electric car, Sarasota offers free electrical power at vehicle charging stations throughout the city, including one at City Hall.
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