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Briefs

Crash kills two, ties up westbound I-4 for hours

By wire services
Published February 14, 2006

An early morning crash Monday on Interstate 4 killed a 20-year-old man and his 18-year-old passenger and caused hours of gridlock for westbound commuters.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers said the accident happened about 5:15 a.m. near Plant City. A 2001 Hyundai Tiburon and a 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis were both headed east on I-4 when the front of the Hyundai collided with the rear of the Mercury, sending the Hyundai careening through the grass median and into the path of a westbound semitrailer truck.

The Hyundai driver, Anthony Boswell of Plant City, died at the scene. His passenger, Alexis Morris of Lakeland, was taken by medical helicopter to Tampa General Hospital, where she died later, a hospital spokesman said.

The truck jackknifed and overturned, closing westbound lanes of I-4 for about five hours. FHP Trooper Larry Coggins said traffic was routed along a parallel road until two lanes reopened late in the morning. All three lanes had reopened by 12:30 p.m.

The truck driver, Richard Briseno, 54, of Plant City, was treated at South Florida Baptist Hospital and released. The driver of the Mercury, Luis Cordoves, 56, of Orlando, was not injured.

GAINESVILLE - The number of shark attacks worldwide dropped in 2005, continuing a five-year trend, the director of the International Shark Attack File said Monday.

There were 58 attacks in 2005, compared with 65 in 2004, and the number of fatal attacks fell from seven to four, said George Burgess, director of the monitoring program housed at the University of Florida.

In 2000, there were a record 78 attacks, 11 fatal.

The number of attacks in the United States rose from 30 in 2004 to 38 in 2005 - though well below the record of 52 in 2000 - and in Florida, still the U.S. shark attack capital, the number rose from 12 to 18, still far under the record of 37, Burgess said.

One of last year's four fatalities occurred in Florida, on June 25, when Jamie Daigle, 14, of Gonzales, La., was attacked by a bull shark while swimming off Miramar Beach near Destin in the Panhandle. It was the state's first fatal shark attack in four years.

MIAMI - A coalition of Florida farmworkers has sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging its refusal to help undocumented farmworkers affected by hurricanes with housing and other assistance.

Many farmworkers who were unable to receive U.S. government help after their housing was destroyed were forced to live in cars and other dangerous situations, while trailers intended for emergency housing were not used, according to the lawsuit.

The workers were denied short-term disaster housing during the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, including relocation to mobile homes or hotels, because they did not meet the government's definition of "qualified alien," the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court said. But it said federal law exempts short-term noncash emergency disaster relief from restrictions based on immigration status.

In one case in 2004, according to the suit, FEMA brought 92 trailers to a location after hurricanes destroyed a mobile home park occupied by farmworkers, but more than 40 trailers were left unoccupied because of wrongful restrictions on their use by undocumented immigrants.

FEMA spokeswoman Debbie Wing declined to comment.

MIAMI - The Miami Herald and CNN sued the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Monday to obtain the release of a videotape that reportedly shows guards beating a 14-year-old boy at a boot camp before he died.

The FDLE has refused to make the tape public. It has been viewed by two Miami Beach legislators who say it shows at least six guards beating the boy viciously.

Martin Lee Anderson, 14, of Panama City died Jan. 6 after collapsing at the camp operated by the Bay County Sheriff's Office. He had been doing exercises as part of the camp's admitting procedures. The Sheriff's Office has said officers restrained Anderson after he became uncooperative.

"We want the tape. The public has a right to the tape and it's unconscionable for that tape to be withheld from public view," Miami Herald attorney Robert G. Beatty said.

The suit was filed in Tallahassee after the newspaper and CNN had made several attempts to obtain the video, Beatty said.

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 02:45:31]