But Kurt Hoffman’s statement cites teen’s ‘inappropriate behavior’ towards woman. And that upsets advocates.
By Jamee Kerber
Original Air Date: November 9, 2024
Host: After hurricane Milton, a black teenager who walked through his own neighborhood in suburban Sarasota in search of a phone signal was harassed by neighbors. This week, the Sarasota Sheriff’s Department announced it dropped its investigation into assault charges. But they did more than that, and that’s what really upsets community advocates. Jamee Kerber reports.
Jamee Kerber: On the day following the announcement of Donald Trump’s re-election, Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman, released a statement saying that the Sheriff’s Office closed the investigation of what some call the “Walking While Black” incident, without filing charges. Community advocates are not happy about the absence of charges. But the Sarasota Sheriff’s statement mentions one detail that prompted gasps.
The October 10th incident attracted national attention, after a video made by a black teenager went viral. It showed several adults pursuing and harassing the teenager while walking through his own neighborhood, Skye Ranch in suburban Sarasota. The teenager was in search of a phone signal, following Hurricane Milton.
Hoffman said the incident failed to meet all three criteria required for probable cause in an assault case. That means there will be no charges filed against any of the adults.
The police report is available on-line. Detective Jordan Baker interviewed 17 individuals between October 15th and October 31st. Eye-witness testimony obtained in the investigation varied in both specific detail and also overall “feel” of the incident, which, according to the report, lasted over an hour. 13 of the 17 people who made recorded statements to the detective are identified as “White”, while the subject of the video, his mother and uncle, and their NAACP representative are identified as “Black”.
Witness testimony pieces together a time-line of the escalating altercation. 18 yr-old Cornell Harris III was sheltering from the storm in his mother’s home, in the gated Skye Ranch community. The following day, while the power was out, the teenager went for a walk. Cornell engaged in conversation with 35-year old Eryn Nobrega. The exact details of this encounter are still unclear. There are conflicting witness accounts. One witness inferred that the teenager made “inappropriate advances towards the woman”. Another witness said the teenager “made a neighborly offer to assist the woman with removing her storm shutters”. Either way, Mrs. Nobrega reacted by retreating inside her home and asking other neighbors to assist with closing her garage door. Another of Nobrega’s neighbors, 49-year old Stephen Carega, apparently decided to take pursuit of young Harris, repeatedly questioning his residence and presence in the neighborhood. Thirty-six year old Romulo Nobrega, returned home to find his wife “in-hiding” and took to his bicycle to locate and confront the teenager.
Video footage shows Nobrega on bicycle and Carega on foot following the young black man. Additional footage shows Carega leave the scene, return in a white vehicle, enter his passenger-side door to obtain an unidentified object held behind his back, while being physically restrained by Nobrega, approximately 30 feet away from Harris.
Off-duty officer, Sgt. Ronald Bairos, who lives in the neighborhood, was asked to intervene by Mrs. Nobrega. Bairos did successfully de-escalate the situation, by advising Carega, Nobrega, Gardner and others that the teenager was known by residents, allowed to be in the neighborhood, and had not committed any crime.
Harris, who can be seen smiling and laughing in the viral video footage, appears to be reacting with a mix of emotions between bewilderment, anger, and fear.
Most neighbors interviewed by Detective Baker claimed to be unaware of the specifics of the encounter. However, two of the neighbors’ testimony were forthcoming with background information regarding ongoing tensions. One neighbor confirmed “there is a clear culture of racism in the neighborhood against anyone that wasn’t ’white and Christian’”. According to the police report, another neighbor stated that she had heard of Stephen Carega’s children referring to the teen’s siblings as ‘monkeys’. Harris and family have contracted a lawyer .
Melanie Lavender is a Sarasota native, community advocate, and mother of a young black boy. She also is a WSLR radio host. Asked how she feels about the absence of charges, she said this:
Melanie Lavender: Disappointed. Angry. Wanting justice. But justice is just for us … it’s not necessarily for us. But it’s also united community organizers and advocates and activists, and it’s starting a conversation, and a strategic conversation — How do we get these things done? And we’re asking those questions.
JK: What worries Lavender most is the very public accusation of inappropriate behavior towards women.
ML: I feel fear. It’s one of those things that have gotten many black men throughout history lynched and killed. For the same reason that Cornell was harassed that day after a hurricane, you know, just a young man walking in his neighborhood. So, it’s very disappointing. I feel anger. I’m serious, but I’m looking for a way to a solution to prevent these types of things from happening, so that other mothers don’t have to watch their children being harassed. It’s not the latest trending topic, because it can always go to the left. And one of the things the police, they stated out their qualifications and one of those is feeling harmed or endangered. And the young man definitely did, when it took other people jumping in to prevent him from attacking him with that stick.
JK: There is a long history of these kinds of accusations, with deadly outcomes.
ML: This is the stain. The same things have happened in history throughout time, even here within the Manatee/Sarasota area. A young girl in the early 1900s said that, I believe his name was Jesse — and I’m just pulling up some of this information — because she told them he kissed her and hugged her.
JK: This has been Jamee Kerber reporting for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.
