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Boy, 8, beat up bus driver, police say

Tampa police arrested the child and charged him with battery.

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 5, 2006

The 8-year old boy stands 4 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs 60 pounds, but that didn't stop Tampa police from arresting him and charging him with battery. According to police, he began fighting with school bus attendants about 2:15 p.m. Monday, while on his way home from Riverhills Elementary School. When the driver, Janice Stephens, pulled over, the child punched and kicked her in the face and upper body, police said. Police met the bus at the boy's home, arrested him and released him to the Hillsborough Juvenile Assessment Center. He was charged with battery on a school board employee. The Times is not naming him because of his age. Neither the Stephens nor the boy's parents could be reached for comment.

Heroin, cocaine result in death

A Clearwater man has been charged with manslaughter after police said he injected another man with heroin, then gave him three shots of cocaine after he appeared to be overdosing. Lewis Moncrief, 39, of Palm Harbor died at Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor at 11:10 p.m. Saturday, police said. Dexter Harrah, 51, was charged with manslaughter Sunday. Free on $20,000 bail, he said Monday that he did not do anything wrong and plans to hire an attorney to fight the charges. The two men were at Harrah's home at Capri Mobile Home Park, 24195 U.S. 19 N, Lot 113, where several others had also gathered, police said Monday. After Harrah used a syringe to inject Moncrief with heroin, he became convulsive and unresponsive, police said. Another person tried to resuscitate Moncrief using CPR, but the effort failed. Harrah then injected him with cocaine, police said. Harrah later told investigators that he had used shots of cocaine in the past to resuscitate someone else from a heroin overdose.

Hateful graffiti found at beach

Police opened a hate crime investigation after a city park employee found anti-Semitic graffiti scrawled on a portable toilet at Ben T. Davis Beach. Investigators believe the crime happened between Nov. 22 and 28, but, so far, they have found no witnesses, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Someone scrawled the graffiti, a paragraph-long tirade that included crude language and swastikas, on the toilet, McElroy said. The toilet was removed from the beach, and the Anti-Defamation League has been notified, she said.

Suspect arrested in child abuse

A 24 year-old man wanted on an aggravated child abuse charge was arrested last week in Georgia. Cleveland Sanders, a St. Petersburg resident, was accused of beating a 3-year-old boy with his hand and a belt. The blows left 70 percent of the youth's body covered with bruises and required him to go to All Children's Hospital for treatment, St. Petersburg police said. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Sanders in Covington, Ga., on Nov. 30 after getting information from people in the community, police said. Sanders is awaiting extradition.

[Last modified December 5, 2006, 10:39:37]