St. Petersburg, Florida Riot 1996

Incident

At approximately 2:00 AM on Thursday, October 24, 1996, St. Petersburg (FL) Police Officer James Knight and his partner executed a traffic stop on a suspected stolen vehicle. The driver of this vehicle, Tyron Lewis, an 18 year-old convicted drug offender, pulled over to the side of the road. Officer Knight ordered Lewis to exit the vehicle, an order that was not obeyed. Lewis then began to drive away at slow speed. Officer Knight moved to the front of the vehicle and repeated his order to exit the vehicle. Lewis began to accelerate the vehicle towards Knight at slow speed, pushing Knight towards active traffic lanes on 16th Street South. Knight drew his weapon and repeated his order to exit the vehicle. Lewis continued driving towards Knight who then fired three shots. Lewis was critically injured and taken to Bayfront Medical Center where he later died.

Conflicting Stories and Rioting

During the investigation immediately following this event, a large crowd had gathered and became agitated due to the police department not sharing information and a number of witnesses describing events. The situation quickly got out of hand and the crowd began throwing rocks, bottles, and other items at police officers. Police officers received reinforcements from other local agencies and off-duty St. Petersburg Police officers. As officers and Sheriff deputies shot tear gas into the crowd and dispersed the initial crowd at 16th Street and 18th Avenue South, a number of individuals continued rioting through the area of St. Petersburg known as Midtown.

Different Media Versions

Media outlets published different versions of the initial incident. The media outlets in and around the St. Petersburg area included the information that the car Lewis was driving was suspected of being stolen. Media outlets outside the area only mentioned that Lewis was pulled over for speeding. Additionally, many published articles did not mention that Lewis had cocaine in the car, both cocaine and marijuana in his system and a warrant for his arrest. [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2004/05/12/Columns/He_was_no_poster_chil.shtml Column: He was no poster child until these 55 seconds | Mary Jo Melone] ]

Naming A Gym

The People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement has a gym named “Uhuru Black Gym of Our Own.” City leaders moved the gym to an abandoned building on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S., renovated the building and renamed it to “All People’s TyRon Lewis Community Gym.” This move sparked controversy with many police officers. [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/21/Neighborhoodtimes/How_dicey_can_a_gym_n.shtml Neighborhoodtimes: How dicey can a gym name be? | Casey Cora] ]

Aftermath

At least 20 people were arrested and 28 arson fires were confirmed as groups of youths ran back and forth throughout the night, throwing rocks, bricks and bottles at officers in riot gear, businesses and passing cars. At least 11 people were injured, including a police officer who was shot and a newspaper photographer who was beaten, as hundreds of people swarmed through the streets after the shooting on Oct 24th. Stores were looted and thick smoke clouded the predominantly black neighborhood just south of downtown St. Petersburg, FL.

After the rioting, Officer James Knight and his partner Sandra Minor, were put on an indefinite leave without pay while investigation into their actions took place. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n26_v90/ai_18851764 Riot erupts in St. Petersburg, Florida, after white cop shoots and kills black motorist | Jet | Find Articles at BNET ] ] Within a few weeks, the two officers were cleared of all charges by a Grand Jury, igniting further rioting. [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/22/news_pf/Tampabay/_Officers_primed_to_q.shtml]

References

* [http://www.cnn.com/US/9610/25/st.pete.riot/]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n26_v90/ai_18851764]
* [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/22/news_pf/Tampabay/_Officers_primed_to_q.shtml]
* [http://www.cnn.com/US/9610/25/st.pete.riot/]