A relative of a slain deputy wants to bring an end to the animosity between law enforcement and residents.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published June 6, 2003
[Times photo: Dan McDuffie]
Alfreda Steele, 5, makes memorial buttons for friends of Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison at the Lacoochee Family Neighborhood Center. Alfreda is the half-sister of Alfredie Steele Jr., who was charged in the deputy's death.
LACOOCHEE - In life, Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison tried to build a bridge between a community deeply suspicious of law enforcement and the uniform he wore for 30 years.
Now his death might do the same.
A community activist and one of Harrison's relatives talked Thursday of a need for healing.
"You have responsible adults saying this can't continue, it has to end now," said Isa Blanford, a community planner with the county housing authority. "Let's just let it end here."
Blanford met Wednesday with two detectives to offer her neighborhood center as a site for a community forum. The meeting would be a first step to "mend fences" after weeks of animosity.
Talk of retribution against the Sheriff's Office spun through Lacoochee the past month after Michael Reed, who is black, crashed his car and died trying to outrun a white deputy.
"I had heard there would be revenge," Blanford said. The day of Reed's funeral, her center had planned a neighborhood beautification to paint posts and pick up garbage.
"It was canceled because the deputies couldn't participate," she said. The Sheriff's Office forbade deputies to travel alone in Lacoochee. "But then when nothing happened, we thought it was just talk."
Until Sunday.
Harrison, the highest ranking black deputy, was on patrol, surveilling Rumors nightclub. A bullet fired from a high-powered rifle ripped through his cruiser and into his back, the Sheriff's Office said.
On Tuesday, authorities charged 19-year-old Alfredie Steele Jr. with homicide. Friends said that in the weeks leading to Harrison's death, Steele was distraught about the loss of his friends, especially Reed.
His mother told the St. Petersburg Times that he phoned her from jail to tell Harrison's family he was sorry, that he loved "Mr. Bo-Bo."
Harrison's daughter, Sandy, said Thursday she accepted Steele's apology, but she remains angry over her father's killing. Still, there's something she must do in his name.
"I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet," she said. "But I'm going to try, at some stage of my life, to do what my daddy did and keep the peace."
"His commitment to that will not be stifled'
The popular Pasco County sheriff's deputy was the very person who could have eased tensions that possibly led to his death this week by a sniper's bullet.
"The one person they could have reached out to for such problems was Lt. Harrison," said Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll.
Regarding the community forum, Doll said Sheriff Bob White was too busy to comment about it, but thought he would be open to the idea.
Col. Al Nienhuis agreed. The office was focused on plans for Harrison's funeral, he said, but is always receptive to improving community relations.
"We want open lines of communication," he said. "On that, Lt. Harrison was head and shoulders" above others.
"His commitment to that will not be stifled," Nienhuis said.
Sandy Harrison said she, too, was interested in a community forum.
The families have already begun working toward forgiveness.
Steele's mother, Regina Clemmons, visited Harrison, her siblings and cousins Wednesday.
"She kept apologizing," Harrison said. "The only thing we said the most was, "It's not your fault. You can't blame yourself."'
Even though she would accept Steele's apology, Harrison remains angry.
"But if he came to me today and he asked me to forgive him," she said, "and I said no and God took my life tomorrow, then I wouldn't get to see my daddy. My daddy would tell you the same thing I'd tell you right now."
Other signs of healing could be seen in Lacoochee on Thursday. In the Cypress Villas public housing complex, Steele's half sister and other children made buttons in memory of Harrison for some of the deputies to wear at the funeral.
However, fear lingered.
At a budget hearing Thursday night, Dade City Police Capt. Linda Register told the city commissioners to expect more overtime. Starting Saturday night, officers must ride two to a car.
The policy will stay in effect at least through June 22, given the unsettled situation, she said.
"It's a waiting game," she said.
- Staff writers Chase Squires and Steve Thompson contributed to this report.
