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Boy, 12, charged in rape at park
By AMY HERDY © St. Petersburg Times, published November 9, 2000 TAMPA -- The woman told police her rapist towered over her but had a smooth baby face. She remembered the boxy silver gun he used, and her overwhelming fear that he would kill her and her four young daughters at the city park where they had gone to relax. Early Wednesday, Tampa police charged a 12-year-old middle school dropout, Tavaris Knight, with the Nov. 1 assault at Copeland Park that shocked investigators for its brazenness. Police say the 5-foot-10, 120-pound Knight, whose mother says he has a learning disability, put a toy gun to the head of the 40-year-old woman, then screamed at her children to sit on a park bench and be quiet as he dragged their mother to a nearby clump of palmettos and raped her twice. The 5-foot woman, whose name is being withheld because of the nature of the crime, struggled with her attacker, who threatened her with a second gun. She finally was able to flee and, naked but for her shoes, ran screaming across the park's basketball courts and flagged down passing motorists. Witnesses said her young daughters, 4-year-old twins, a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old, ran screaming behind her. Her attacker fled on a small bicycle, but not before leaving behind a small piece of plastic that police say broke off from the toy gun he used to beat her in the head. He also left the wrapper of the condom he used. Tampa Detective Tom Singleton said the piece is an exact fit to a toy gun the victim's boyfriend later found at the park. And the left side of the barrel, Singleton said, carried a perfect fingerprint that technicians matched to Knight. The victim also picked his picture out of a pack of photos, Singleton said. Singleton said Knight was the youngest suspect he had encountered to be charged with such a "horrific" crime. "Once we found out how old he was, we couldn't believe it," Singleton said. "It shocked me. Just when you think you've seen the worst in a human being, this type of thing happens." Singleton said Knight showed little emotion. "No tears, no remorse," he said. "He came across with street bravado. I told him this is the big time, that this is no juvenile offense. He looked puzzled, then I could see fear in his face." The victim said she was grateful her attacker was caught. "I want to see him pay," she said. "He needs to know what it is to torture someone and their small children. He's depraved." Knight faces charges of attempted armed robbery, armed kidnapping and two counts of armed sexual battery in the incident. He is being held in a juvenile detention center. Prosecutors will decide whether to charge him as an adult or a juvenile. At the time of his arrest, Knight was wanted on a trespassing warrant. About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Tampa police Officers David Fernandez and Jeff Sanchez caught Knight after a brief foot chase. They knew him on the street as "T" or "T.K." He was found hiding partly under a car inside a shed on E Comanche Avenue near 34th Street in Belmont Heights. Knight, who was carrying counterfeit crack cocaine, did not struggle, the officers said, and did not say a word. Knight has an extensive criminal record that includes several counts of possession of fake drugs as well as auto burglary, grand theft auto, battery and possession of a controlled substance, police spokesman Joe Durkin said. Records show he has been reported a runaway five times. Knight's mother, 32-year-old Gwen Brown, said she believes her son is innocent. "I don't think my baby did that," Brown said. "I don't believe a 12-year-old boy could beat a woman down." Brown, who said she babysits and receives disability checks for a mental illness, said Knight has never known his father. He divides his time between his grandmother's house and the home Brown shares with a boyfriend and two younger children in the troubled area near the University of South Florida known as Suitcase City. He does not have a bed, furniture or toys at either home; he sleeps on the couch in both places. She also said she gets disability checks for Knight's learning disability and for his 10-year-old brother, who is retarded. Brown was unclear on the type of learning disability Knight has. Her son began to get into trouble at age 10, Brown said, and for punishment, "I would beat his a-- and make him stay in the house." She tried to keep a tight rein, she said. "I don't even let my children watch violent movies. They watch cartoons all the d--- time." Her live-in boyfriend, Reginald Burney Sr., described Knight as "hardheaded" and said he did not get along with his younger siblings or other children in the neighborhood. "He thinks they're little kids and that he's the man," Burney said. Singleton said youths at Knight's age are capable of committing violent crimes on a whim because they do not have the restraint of adult thinking. The victim wonders what happened in his life that led Knight to be charged with such a crime. "He had to have been raised in violence and anger, and taught that women are nothing," she said. She said she and her boyfriend moved to Tampa from Pennsylvania because he was sentenced to five years' probation for sexual battery and lewd and lascivious charges involving a teenage girl in Tampa. She said they lost everything they owned as they fought the case. She said he pleaded no contest only because they could not afford to fight it from their home in Pennsylvania anymore. As she puts her life back together, she wants revenge against her rapist. "He needs to suffer," she said. - Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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