Charlotte inmate died trying to help slain guard, family says
By Associated Press
Published June 23, 2003
WAUCHULA - A prison inmate who died during a botched escape attempt in which a correctional officer was killed was remembered as a hero by family members and friends during his funeral Saturday.
About 30 people gathered at the funeral for Charlie Fuston, 36, who suffered major head injuries in the escape attempt June 11 at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda. He died June 13 at Lee Memorial Hospital.
Officer Darla K. Lathrem, 38, also died in the botched jailbreak. Mourners remembered Fuston not as a prison inmate but as a man who died after trying to protect Lathrem, The News Press of Fort Myers reported in a story for Sunday editions.
"I believe the Charlie I know chose good over evil," prison minister Rossi Borgia said. "The Charlie I know was a martyr."
Officials have not confirmed reports that Fuston died of injuries he suffered while trying to help Lathrem. But family members told the newspaper that the prison warden informed them that Fuston was a victim of the attack.
"The warden said to me: "Your brother was a victim in this and was trying to help one of ours,"' Fuston's sister, Rosie Fuston, 39, told The News Press for a story in Saturday editions. "It upsets me that they are not telling people what my brother did."
Fuston was serving a 30-year sentence for a burglary and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 1993 in Hardee County.
Fuston, who spent most of his adult life in prison, accepted religion and became a changed man who helped other inmates, Borgia said.
