Toddler killed when van backs over her in driveway
By Times Staff
Published November 28, 2005
CLEARWATER - A toddler was killed Sunday afternoon in her family's driveway when a van backed over her.
Jada Jones, 1, was at 1001 La Salle St., where she lived with her family. Family and friends were unloading a rental van after returning from a trip to Texas. Annette Robinson, 41, who also lives at the address, got in the van to return it. She backed out of the driveway and over Jada, who was treated by paramedics at the scene at 2:18 p.m. She was pronounced dead at Morton Plant Hospital about an hour later.
No charges will be filed in the accident, said police spokesman Wayne Shelor.
Woman dies after deputies shock her with stun gunFORT MYERS - A woman who was combative with deputies and shocked once with a Taser stun gun lost consciousness and died, authorities said.
Tracy Rene Shippy, 35, entered the Hallmark Gold Crown store about 6:30 p.m. Saturday and asked employees to call 911 because she had been in a fight, Lee County sheriff's spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi said.
Employees told deputies that she then began knocking over and smashing the store's displays.
A deputy tackled Shippy and put her in handcuffs, then began moving her toward a squad car with another deputy, officials said. Sgt. Joseph More shocked Shippy once on her left shoulder with a Taser after she began kicking the deputies, LiMarzi said.
Shippy tried to kick out one of the windows in the back of the vehicle, LiMarzi said. Paramedics evaluated her at 7:08 p.m., but a deputy noticed that Shippy had become unresponsive and her face was turning blue about 15 minutes later, LiMarzi said.
Shippy was pronounced dead at the Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center shortly after 8 p.m.
Trial delayed for woman accused of shooting sonsST. AUGUSTINE- The trial of a Ponte Vedra Beach woman who is pleading insanity in the 2001 shooting deaths of her 4-year-old twin sons has been delayed because of a disagreement over how evidence is being shared by attorneys in the case.
The capital murder trial of Leslie Ormandy Demeniuk had been scheduled to start Monday, but was delayed until Jan. 3.
Demeniuk, 36, has been in custody since she was arrested in the shooting death of her sons, James and John, on March 17, 2001.
Demeniuk's lawyers argue that a mix of antidepressants and alcohol created a drug-induced mood disorder that drove her to kill. She was taking antianxiety and antidepressant drugs, and was drinking heavily to relieve the drugs' side effects, her lawyers said.
State prosecutors, who are seeking the death penalty, have said no legitimate science supports the defense theory.
Airports report heavy Thanksgiving trafficMIAMI - Traffic at Florida's two busiest airports over the Thanksgiving week was the heaviest for the holiday since air travel plummeted following the 2001 terrorist attacks, airport officials said Sunday.
No significant flight delays were reported at the international airports that serve the tourist hubs of Miami and Orlando, though both airports and others throughout Florida did have long lines at check-in and security points.