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Jury Awards $15M To Parents Of 14-Year-Old Black Boy Killed By Car After Deputies Kicked Him Out Of State Fair, Ending Years-Long Debate Over Teen’s Death

<p>A <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;&quest;s&equals;florida&amp&semi;post&lowbar;type&equals;post" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>Florida<&sol;strong><&sol;a> jury has awarded &dollar;15 million to the parents of a young Black boy who was fatally struck by a car after deputies kicked him out of a state fair&comma; having found the Hillsborough County sheriff&&num;8217&semi;s office responsible for damages&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The parents of Andrew Joseph III&comma; a 14-year-old Black boy who died back in February 2014&comma; will split the award 50&sol;50&comma; saying they were &&num;8220&semi;elated&&num;8221&semi; at the victory and called the verdict a &&num;8220&semi;day of vindication&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That child didn’t do nothing wrong&period; Fifteen million &lbrack;dollars&rsqb; put some respect on it&comma;” the boy&&num;8217&semi;s father Andrew Joseph Jr&period; told the press&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are elated at this moment&comma;&&num;8221&semi; his mother Deanna Joseph added&comma; according to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;atlantablackstar&period;com&sol;2022&sol;09&sol;26&sol;jury-awards-15m-to-parents-of-teen-killed-by-car-after-florida-deputies-kicked-him-out-of-a-state-fair&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Atlanta Black Star<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Last Thursday&comma; ten jurors serving a Tampa federal court reached a verdict in the premature death of Joseph III&comma; after he was struck by a car while attempting to cross the Interstate 4 highway eight years ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cbs12&period;com&sol;news&sol;local&sol;sheriff-must-pay-15m-for-death-of-florida-teen-outside-fair" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>CBS 12 News<&sol;strong><&sol;a> reports that the boy had just been removed from the Florida State Fair by officers in the moments leading up to his death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"695985345515692033" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joseph III was a the fair to attend Student Day&comma; a longstanding tradition where children can get in for free&comma; according to the outlet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Verdict Brings An End To Years Of Debate Regarding Boy&&num;8217&semi;s Death&comma; Many Called Him A Child&comma; Others A Criminal<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The verdict comes after years of debate regarding the boy&&num;8217&semi;s death&comma; with many in the Black Lives Matter camp calling it senseless&comma; while others attempted to paint the child as a criminal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Deputies said the boy and a few others teens were tossed from the fair for &&num;8220&semi;wilding&&num;8221&semi; or causing a disturbance&comma; having knocked over fellow fair patrons and reportedly stealing from vendors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officers reportedly grabbed two of his friends before kicking him out&period; He was allegedly caught because he helped pick up another boy&&num;8217&semi;s hat after he dropped it while they were running&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; authorities have been criticized for their portrayal of the boy&comma; who many argued was being labeled as a criminal and not a child&comma; despite his young age&comma; according to a 2016 editorial by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theroot&period;com&sol;articles&sol;culture&sol;2016&sol;02&sol;my&lowbar;son&lowbar;is&lowbar;gone&lowbar;because&lowbar;someone&lowbar;deemed&lowbar;him&lowbar;a&lowbar;criminal&lowbar;and&lowbar;not&lowbar;my&lowbar;child&period;html&quest;wpisrc&equals;topstorieshttp&colon;&sol;&sol;buff&period;ly&sol;1T520Ee&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;content&equals;bufferebef6&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;social&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;twitter&period;com&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;buffer" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>The Root<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1573105256715587584" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Family Of Boy Killed After State Fair Ejection Claim His Civil Rights Were Violated By Deputies<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Deputed detained and ejected Jospeh&comma; which his parents claim violated his civil rights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joseph and about 99 other teenagers were questioned and photographed before being removed from the fair and taken home&comma; the Atlanta Black Star reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defense claims that the boy was offered a ride from his football coach after being kicked out of the fair&comma; but he ultimately turned it down&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Instead&comma; he opted to try and cross the highway on his own&comma; but was struck by an SUV before he could make it across the expressway to the main gate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendant&&num;8217&semi;s attorney&comma; Robert Fulton&comma; who represented the deputies&comma; told the outlet that &&num;8220&semi;It was not foreseeable that someone would leave and enter the interstate&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; the plaintiff&&num;8217&semi;s lawyers argued that authorities should have never placed the boy in that situation in the first place&comma; and should have been safely escorted across the busy highway or held until a ride showed up&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1569361217315127296" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A kid should never have been put in this position&comma;” the family&&num;8217&semi;s attorney Chris Anulewicz said in closing arguments&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He should not have been put in the position of trying to do this on his own&period; They owed Andrew a duty not to place him in a dangerous situation&comma; and they did not do that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Authorities Claimed Boy&&num;8217&semi;s Own Decisions Caused His Death&comma; And Not Any Police Officers<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>On the other hand&comma; the defense maintained that the boy&&num;8217&semi;s own decisions caused him to die&comma; and added that the officers &&num;8220&semi;did not cause Andrew&&num;8217&semi;s injury&comma;&&num;8221&semi; nor did they &&num;8220&semi;cause his death&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re not devaluing the loss of the Joseph family&comma;” Fulton said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nothing that has been presented over the last eight days has changed that fact that Cpl&period; Clark did not cause Andrew injury and the sheriff did not cause his death&period;”<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"695676971938922497" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; the jury ultimately found the department to be 90 percent responsible for the teen&&num;8217&semi;s death&comma; and that he was culpable for 10 percent of the responsibility&comma; the Black Star reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Joseph&&num;8217&semi;s parents thanked &&num;8220&semi;God for ears that heard this case&comma;&&num;8221&semi; and thanked the judge and jury as well following the verdict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We thank God for the judge&period; We thank God for the jury&period; We thank God for ears that heard this case&comma;” the father said&comma; according to ABC Action News&period;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>A portion of the money will be donated to the Andrew Joseph Foundation&comma; according to the outlet&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The sheriff’s office can appeal the verdict&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"98922" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;awards-15m-to-parents-of-14-year-old-black-boy-by-car-after-deputies-kicked-him-out-of-state-fair-ending-years-long-debate-over-teens-death&sol;" data-secure&equals;"2a1d850594"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Matthew McNulty

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