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By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times, published November 24, 2000
Body of Skyway jumper identified; another found
ST. PETERSBURG -- A body recovered by the U.S. Coast Guard Wednesday has been identified as the St. Petersburg man who jumped off the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Rodney Kibler, 30, had entered into a suicide pact with his friend, Arthur "Bill" Clark, 28, also of St. Petersburg. Kibler jumped from the center span after midnight Wednesday, but a trooper talked Clark away from the wall.
On Thursday, a fisherman discovered the body of an elderly woman floating off Anna Maria Island, southwest of the bridge.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has contacted family members of Virginia Sheley, the 73-year-old Bradenton woman who jumped from the bridge Tuesday. Positive identification had not been made Thursday evening.
TAMPA -- Two Tampa police officers were struggling with a suspect early Thursday when they were hit by a car.
The suspect, who was not identified, died at the scene.
Officers Prince Jones and Brian Bridgmon began chasing the suspect about 1 a.m. after the man was ejected from the Lucky Lounge at 1504 N Nebraska Ave., said police spokesman Joe Durkin.
When the man saw Jones and Bridgmon approach, he ran, Durkin said. The officers caught up with him at Estelle Avenue and were wrestling with him in the southbound lanes of Nebraska Avenue. Latashia Ann Wells, 24, hit them as she drove south on Nebraska Avenue in a 1992 Toyota.
Jones suffered injuries to his leg, but he was released Thursday from Tampa General Hospital. Bridgmon was treated at the scene and released. Durkin said no charges are expected against Wells. She was not speeding, he said.
TAVARES -- The relatives of a 6-year-old girl whose beating death led to sweeping changes in state child protection laws are suing the Department of Children and Families for ignoring abuse complaints against her father.
The lawsuit, filed by Kayla McKean's mother, Elisabeth, and grandfather Joseph in Lake County Circuit Court, alleges that the DCF "acted recklessly and with deliberate indifference" to the girl's rights.
Kayla was stomped and beaten to death by her father, Richard Lee Adams, in Clermont during Thanksgiving weekend in 1998. Adams, who tried to hide the body, was sentenced last May to life in prison without parole.
Elisabeth McKean is seeking damages for mental pain and suffering and funeral and medical expenses, the suit says.
The suit mentions as defendants the Lake County Boys' Ranch, which worked as an arm of the DCF; Kayla's paternal grandparents Sandra and Richard Adams; and Lonnie Stooksbury, a friend of Richard Lee Adams. It also names seven caseworkers and supervisors who worked either for the ranch or DCF at the time. The suit does not name Richard Lee Adams.
Kayla's death resulted in major changes in the state's child welfare system, including the passage of the Kayla McKean Act and the firings and resignations of several DCF workers blamed for missing repeated signs of abuse.
Among other changes to how Florida handles child abuse, the law required judges to make reports of suspected child abuse or face criminal penalties.
TAMPA -- Three men armed with semiautomatic guns kicked in the door of a north Tampa apartment early Thursday and robbed its occupants of clothing and cash.
Tamara Evans, 26, lives in the apartment at 1501 E 97th Ave., but a total of nine adults and children were present during the robbery, according to the Tampa Police Department. No one was injured.