Northpinellas: After 4 years of pain, a trial

LARGO -- There was no denying it. Shea Johnson was Cindy Valentine's son. Everybody knew it when they saw them together. Their appearance and personalities were strikingly similar, although Shea had dirty-blond hair and his mother, straight black.

The resemblances reflected the bond between mother and son, a bond that remains although Shea has been dead for more than four years. It drives her to this day.

Shea died on July 6, 1997. He was killed when his father, Jeffrey Johnson, rammed his car into a bridge support. Jeffrey Johnson died instantly; Shea, 18 months old, died a short time later.

Police think Johnson purposely killed himself, despondent about a marriage that had turned angry and violent. Valentine thinks her son's death could have been averted had it not been for the Largo Police Department.

On Monday, Valentine will have her chance to prove her claims in a civil trial against the city that is expected to attract the attention of Dateline and Court TV.

"In honor of my son, I'm doing this," said a tearful Valentine, 32, in her attorney's office last week. "I'm not the type of person who goes around suing people. I think I'm doing this for the right reasons. It's destroyed my life. I feel that it's God's will that I don't let this go."

City officials have previously denied wrongdoing but now refuse to comment on the case. In court documents, city officials have said they followed proper procedures.

Jeffrey Johnson and Cindy Valentine's marriage was tense. He was accused of stealing a handgun from a friend and threatening to use it to kill himself and his wife. The couple argued Thursday, July 3, 1997, and again on Friday after Johnson discovered Valentine had put a deposit on an apartment, Valentine said.

"He just really blew up and became physically violent with me," said Valentine, who now uses her maiden name.

Valentine told her husband she planned to take Shea and their daughter, Brooke, now 8, to a church event. It was really a rouse to escape the house and leave Johnson for good, Valentine said. Johnson refused to let her leave and hid the keys in the house, she said. Valentine purposely walked to the front lawn to reason with her husband and hoped the sight of neighbors would discourage him from getting violent.

It didn't work, she said. Johnson put his hands around her throat, she said. The confrontation ended with Valentine calling police.

Officers tracked Johnson to his job in Pinellas Park later that Friday. He fled and drove about 80 mph on U.S. 19. Concerned for Shea's welfare, police stopped their chase. Johnson called Valentine from a hotel in Vero Beach the next day. He did not say where he was; nevertheless, she got the telephone number from her caller ID and quickly notified Largo police.

Johnson said he might hurt himself but not Shea, Valentine recalled. Valentine was skeptical and feared her husband might harm their son. Valentine spoke to a police dispatcher who was aware of the situation.

"She gave me the feeling it was going to be checked out," Valentine said.

Valentine assumed Largo police would contact authorities wherever Shea was and bring her son home. They didn't. Instead, the dispatcher forwarded the message to an off-duty police officer who had worked the case the previous day.

The city says in court documents that the dispatcher followed standard operating procedures.

"There was never any threat or danger to the child at all," Largo police Sgt. Mark Young, who attended the child's funeral, said in a deposition. Johnson's threats were limited to himself, never the boy, the officer said.

With each passing minute, Valentine's concern intensified. She didn't want to scare her daughter, so she tried to remain calm.

On Sunday morning, Johnson called Valentine and talked of suicide. The threats now also included Shea.

"He said, "If they chase me, I'm going to run into a tree,"' Valentine said.

Frantic, Valentine called police. She learned her initial tip was never fully checked out. Police alerted authorities in Polk County, not in Vero Beach, said Valentine's attorney, Tyrone Zdravko. There was some type of confusion about the telephone number Valentine gave police, court records show.

Eventually, Largo notified Vero Beach authorities. Officers were dispatched to a Howard Johnson hotel, where they saw a man carrying a child, Zdravko said. The officers yelled for Johnson to stop, unaware of the seriousness of his threats, the attorney said. Johnson carried Shea into his car and drove into a bridge support on Interstate 95 in Brevard County. Police said Johnson was driving about 95 mph.

"It's hard," Valentine said of trying to cope with the tragedy. "I try to place myself physically away from it. I can't look at a baby without crying. It bothers me to be around children that age."

If Valentine wins, state law caps what she can get from the city at $100,000. She insists her efforts are not motivated by money but by her memories of a "very happy boy."

"It's sad that this whole thing happened," she said. "It's sad that Largo is not taking any responsibility. It's sad that this could happen again."

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