TILDEN LAW – Orlando Criminal Attorney

The 21-year-old son of a Sanford police officer is accused of attacking a homeless man in front of a Sanford bar.  A warrant for the arrest of Justin Collison has been issued alleging a charge of aggravated battery, a 3^rd degree felony.  As a result of the attack, it is reported that the victim, Sherman Ware, suffered a broken nose.  Collison is the son of Lt. Chris Collison who is assigned to the Sanford police department’s patrol division. 

The attack was recorded on video by a person outside the Wet Spot bar on Park Avenue in downtown Sanford.  Collison was questioned at the scene but not arrested.  Acting Sanford police chief Capt. Jerry Hargrett said Wednesday that officers made “blatant” policy violations that night, including not handcuffing Collison or patting him down.  Hargrett said he wasn’t sure why the officers didn’t arrest Collison, but said there was no evidence Collison was given preferential treatment.  The police department launched an internal investigation into four officers, including a sergeant, who were associated with the case.

The video shows Ware trying to break up a fight on the sidewalk when Collison walks up behind him and punches Ware in the back of the head.  Ware pitched forward, hit his head on a nearby light pole and fell to the ground. He was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital with a broken nose.  A few days after the fight, police asked the State Attorney’s Office in Sanford to review the case and decide whether to file an aggravated battery charge against Collison.

Pittsburgh’s new head football coach has been arrested on allegations of Domestic Violence according to news reporting agencies.  Michael Haywood, who was named new head coach for the Pittsburgh Panthers football program is a former Notre Dame offensive coordinator and formerly played running back.

Haywood was arrested at the alleged victim’s residence Friday afternoon.  According to reports, a physical altercation erupted over a child custody issue as the alleged victim attempted to leave.  The victim reported that Haywood grabbed her arm and neck and also pushed her leaving marks on her neck, arms and back.

Haywood, who was hired by Pittsburgh on December 16^th to replace football coach Dave Wannstedt remains in custody without bond due to the charges with an initial court date in January.

TILDEN LAW represents clients in Central Florida accused of domestic violence charges.  If you are facing a Orlando domestic violence battery charge or a Seminole County Domestic related charge, call our office for a free case evaluation, 407 599-1234.

TILDEN LAW represents clients in Central Florida accused of domestic violence charges.  If you are facing a Orlando domestic violence battery charge or a Seminole County Domestic related charge, call our office for a free case evaluation, 407 599-1234.

The Pinellas County State Attorney’s Office chose to drop the misdemeanor domestic battery charge against New Port Richey Mayor Scott McPherson’s wife, Kimberly McPherson who was arrested at Grille 54 in the early hours of July 26 on a simple domestic battery charge.  McPherson was accused of slapping her husband during an exchange between the two and a Pasco County deputy. Scott McPherson said during a City Council meeting Tuesday that the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has opened a Professional Standards investigation of the arresting deputy.

Results from the sheriff’s office investigation are pending, and McPherson said he will reserve further comment until those deliberations have concluded.

If you or someone you know has een arrested or charged with a Battery or Domestic Violence charge in Orlando and are facing criminal prosecution for Domestic Violence in either Orange County, Seminole County, Florida,  contact the attorneys at TILDEN LAW for an initial and confidential free consultation, 407-599-1234.

An Orlando police officer accused of grabbing a woman’s lactating breast while working off duty resigned today.

Loverde, 31, is accused of grabbing the new mother’s breast after he walked her to her car at Firestone Live, a concert venue on North Orange Avenue downtown.   He is charged with battery, a first degree Misdemeanor  and false imprisonment, a second degree Felony. He was suspended without pay from the department on Dec. 17.

Loverde is currently out on bond in the amount of $5,500 with the additional condition of having no contact with the alleged victim.  Trial is currently scheduled for June 21, 2010.

Apopka Police officer Tanya Culver was arrested Sunday, April 4, 2010, by the Sanford Police department on allegations of domestic violence.  The arrest was officer Culver’s second in as many months on the same charge. 

Tanya Culver, 36, was arrested late Sunday for violating the conditions of her bond in a March domestic-violence case. She is accused of firing a gun at her husband and threatened to kill herself on March 7, according to an arrest report.

Culver’s husband called police just before 11 p.m. Sunday to report that his wife, who has been ordered to stay away from him, showed up at the same bar he was at in Sanford and threatened to kill him and then herself.

Culver told her husband she “would end him, run him over and kill herself,” according to the report.

After her husband left the bar, Culver then went to their shared home and called him from a cell phone that had been left the house, the report states. During that conversation she again threatened to kill herself, the report said. Culver was also ordered to stay away from their home.  She is being held without bond at the Seminole County jail.  Culver has been on unpaid leave from the Apopka Police Department since March 7.

Daytona Beach authorities have received reports of 6 sexual assaults during the first week of Spring Break 2010. Detectives were called by a 37 year old woman to reported that she was grabbed by her hair by a unidentified male while walking to the restroom at the newly renovated Ocean Center and pulled into a men’s bathroom stall where she was sexually assaulted. The attack occurred sometime after 4:00 p.m. in broad daylight.

It is common for sexual assaults to increase during the Spring Break month of March. “All of last year we had a total of 41 sexual assaults,” Police Chief Mike Chitwood said Tuesday. “Here we have six in one week.”

In an unrelated incident, Daytona Beach police arrested a rape suspect in another incident that involved heavy drinking. The suspect is accused of raping a Spring Breaker at the Plaza Resort & Spa, on North Atlantic Ave. According to an arrest report, the suspect engaged in sex with a woman who was unconscious because she was drunk. The suspect admitted to investigators the woman was already drunk when he met her earlier in the day on March 14. He said he decided to buy her more booze and then had sex with her at least twice in two different hallways of the hotel, an arrest report states.

The other four rapes occurred at another hotel, behind a popular beachfront restaurant and one on the mainland after a woman met a man at a nightclub and invited him over, the chief said.

More facts on domestic violence from Women in Distress:

• 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women.

• One in every three women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

• Every day, four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence — that’s about 1,400 women a year.

• In 2008, there were 113,123 reported cases of domestic violence in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Of those, 7,475 were reported in Broward County.

• In 2007, females were the victims in 85 percent of domestic violence homicides in Florida.

• Pregnant women are twice as likely to experience domestic violence as women who are not pregnant.

• About 8.8 million children witness domestic violence each year.

• 30 percent to 60 percent of perpetrators of intimate-partner violence also abuse children in the household.

• Children who have witnessed violence at home are five times more likely to commit or suffer violence when they become adults.

• Nearly one in five teenage girls report that their boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm when presented with a breakup.

• One in five teens in a serious relationship report having been hit, slapped or pushed by a partner.

• Nearly half of all boys and girls say the abuse occurs in a school building or on school grounds.

 If you have been accused of domestic violence and are facing a criminal charge in Orange County or Seminole County, Florida, please call my office for a free case evaluation and learn how Tilden Law can defend your rights.