Ding dong ditching is something that the kids all seem to be into these days….you ring a doorbell at night and then run. Annoying, yes. A crime…I don’t think so. It’s something most all kids have done at some point…my own have, and if I could remember that far back, I’d probably have to say I’ve done it myself.
Early Friday morning, Tyler Spann is alleged to have rung the doorbell of a Sarasota County cop,Deputy Carlos Verdoni, perhaps more than once (that part seems to be pretty much up in the air at this point). Now, if this happened at my house, I’d imagine I’d be annoyed, and then go back to sleep. Maybe call the cops if it’d happened multiple times. In this case, the officer apparently decided to deal with it by jumping in his patrol car, along with his gun, to hunt down the ding dong ditchers. From there the story gets murky…the cop says the kid (ok, he was 20, so technically, he was a man) wrestled with him and tried to go for his gun. At that point, the officer, saying he feared for his life, shot Tyler twice, killing him.
I’ve been reading on the forums, and most people seem to be on the side of the officer. After all, he felt threatened, and he shot. I understand all of that. My problem with this is, why did he feel the need to leave his house and chase the kid down? Why did he not simply call the police? Being a cop himself, I’m pretty sure he would have gotten a speedy response. Would the outcome have been the same, just with another officer being the one shooting Tyler? Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll never know, will we?
I don’t know, something just feels hinky with this story. I’ll be interested to see how the investigation plays out. In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of Tyler Spann. And I’ll be reminding my kids NOT to ding dong ditch. You never know when you’re going to ring the wrong doorbell.
The Herald Tribune story can be found here.
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Justice for Tyler, that was beautifully written with nothing but the facts!
When will the facts come to light? F.Y.I. Venice Police only patrol an area of about 12 blocks from Venice Avenue to Center Road. They are mere puppets of Sarasota County PD.
Glen. I just read a article that Verdoni and his partner, while on duty, went into the Racetrac to get a soda. Two kids saw him, and called others. There ended up being 15 kids there who confronted Verdoni according to the article. How long does it take to buy a soda anway? Couple of minutes maybe. How did 13 other kids have time to get to the Racetrac before Verdoni left? I think he saw the kids looking at him and that he hung around and waited for the confrontation. Then, according to the article he confronted the kids about driving by his house and posting negative comments on Facebook. Really? Facebook? Is he serious. He killed a kid and he is upset about the comments on Facebook? Sticks and stones, he used bullets. These kids are obviously angry. Hell, I’m angry and I didn’t even know Tyler Spann existed until he was killed. Verdoni is a police office, who literally has gotten away with murder. I am sure he must feel pretty invincible by now, like he could do anything and get away with it. Glen, it seems you know many of these kids. Please encourage them to stay away from Verdoni. No need for anymore senseless deaths. Help them to focus their anger into positive directions. Perhaps petitioning the governor for an independent investigation. Maybe getting a law passed so that off duty officers can not handle personal situations, they must call 911 like the rest of us when it involves them. A charitable foundation in Tyler’s name. Just some thoughts. I would hate to see some other kid say something in the heat of the moment that will push Verdoni. He obviously has a short fuse if he would chase a kid at 1:00 AM for ding dong ditch and then kill him.
By the way, just curious. I have read that Tyler was 5′4″. Hardly a big guy. Doesn’t sound very threatening. I am curious, do you know how big Verdoni is?
Justice for Tyler, you make another great point. I think there are many stages of dealing with death especially when it hits so close to home. I feel the community; especially the youth in this community are past the shock phase of this. It is now outrage. Outrage that all indications point to to a complete acquital. You are so right though! Let’s not get any more of our young adults in jail or worst! TO ALL, please let justice take it’s course. Hopefully it will be served. We must stick together and demand justice as a community! From what I understand, Verdoni is about 6′ tall.
There is power in numbers. Contact the media. Shows like 48 hours, 20/20, 60 Minutes, Dateline. Make this national news. Let everyone know the kind of justice there is in Florida. I guarantee you will see plenty of outrage. When enough people know, it cant be brushed under the rug! Even if the investigation conducted was accurate and truthful, the appearance of impropriety exists because it was conducted by the same dept. the cop worked for. An outside agency should have handled this from the very beginning. If you bring enough media attention to this, I’m sure a new investigation would be opened by an uninterested party and then maybe, just maybe, justice will be served.
I would encourage everyone to slow down and listen to Justice for Tyler and Glenn. Yes, I believe that it’s important to fight for justice for Tyler….but it needs to be done through the proper channels. Keep writing letters to the Governor, do as Justice suggested and write to the national media to get attention to this case. But name calling, etc, will get us nowhere in seeing justice served. It’s just taking a risk that someone else will get hurt. And I don’t think any of us want to see that happen.
Joe R says,
” no cop in this nation coulda taken a hit from ty and not sustained a bruise”
I believe it. It isn’t height that determines the winner – it’s how you use your power. Just a thought…
Justice for Tyler – you infer that fellow officers could have helped Verdoni with his statement by letting be interviewed last. If they are that corrupt, it would not matter. They could have altered all sorts of evidence. I don’t believe it. Police are human but I think most try hard to do what is right.
For the record, I am not a cop. I didn’t know Tyler and I don’t know Verdoni. I would not for anything cause more pain to Tyler’s family and they have my deepest sympathy.
Mr Verdoni has also family though and how do they like having him called a murderer? Does anyone honestly think he went out to kill Tyler? I mean, gee, he was studying on the computer and probably thought the kids had gone home to bed!
Tammy, too true! Jill, you didin’t know Tyler. I have no sympathy for Verdoni or his actions. This situation could have gone 100 different ways. There is still no answers to the sinple question, “Where was his duty belt?”
He left his home on a hunt with his gun and gun only. It is so sad and nothing will bring Tyler back. Should we just brush it off and feel bad for Verdoni, reload his bullets, and send him back on the street?
Yes, I infer that Verdoni’s fellow officers could have helped him with this statement. Sarasota County Sherriff’s Dept. conducted an investigation on one of their own. Do you honestly not see a problem with that? And yes, by interviewing Verdoni last, they could have looked for potential problems and prepped him before he gave his statement. Did they? I don’t know. But, the appearance of impropriety is certainly there.
I am not a cop, and I don’t know Tyler, his family or Verdoni, either. I did however work in criminal defense and I can tell you there are problems with this investigation.
To answer your question, “does anyone honestly think he went out to kill Tyler”.
Well, he was definitely pissed off. He left his house with a gun, and only a gun. Honestly, you don’t have a problem with that? He claims he went out to get these guys because he was afraid for his wife and baby being home alone, but yet he leaves them alone, while they are sleeping , so he can chase down these two kids. He’s going to make an arrest. Why not grab your handcuffs too? Just a gun? Do you see a problem yet? He doesn’t call for any backup until he finds Tyler. Why not call for backup while you are looking? Tyler died for his bad decision, Verdoni didn’t even lose his job! As for Verdoni having a family, so did Tyler!
Let me point out some holes in this investigation for you.
According to Officer Verdoni’s sworn statement, Officer Verdoni is driving around, looking for two suspects in his patrol car with only his gun. He sees Tyler lying on the ground by some bushes. Then, he finally radios dispatch that he needs a Venice Patrol Unit. ( Why not ask for help immediately. You are only one person, looking to two suspects?) He gets out of his patrol car and tells Tyler to stay on the ground and don’t get up, all the while looking for the second guy. Then he tells Tyler, “come over here and lay right here where, you know, where I could keep an eye on you” (This would require Tyler to stand up) Verdoni acknowledges that at this point Tyler is compliant. Verdoni grabs his cell phone and calls a friend working for Venice PD to get him some backup, because he thought it would be quicker. (Again, why didn’t he do that in the first place when he is hunting these kids down?) His cell phone is in his left hand, gun in his right, but not pointed at Tyler. As his friend from Venice PD is on the phone Tyler gets up and says “Fuck you. You’re going to have to kill me and just runs at me ….” Verdoni says when Tyler hit him he lost one of his flip-flops and he slammed Verdoni to the ground on the concrete and he hit the back of his head and felt woozy. Then he claims Tyler was on top of him swinging his right arm, trying to punch him but Verdoni is blocking with his left hand, “and he is reaching with his right hand to my gun. And he’s trying to grab my gun from me. And he’s saying the same thing, “Fuck you. You’re gonna have to kill me”. (Which one is it, was he swinging his right arm trying to punch, or was he reaching for the gun?) It’s an inconsistent statement. (By the way this comes directly from Verdoni’s sworn statement to his buddies at the Sarasota Sherriff’s Dept.)
Dr. Hicks, a witness in his statement says he hears the Sherriff guy yelling get down, stay down. He heard him yell about “where’s your partner I saw him. Where did he go?” Dr. Hicks says he saw Verdoni on the cell phone. He figured everything is under control, so he goes back to bed. Then he hears the Sherriff person start to say get down, stay down, so he gets back up. According the Dr. Hicks, “the other guy had gotten up”. (This is probably when Verdoni told Tyler to come closer) Dr. Hicks says, “Not really very fast or just gotten up. And the Sherriff then began to approach him.” (I’m sorry, but didn’t Officer Verdoni say that Tyler ran at him? ) Dr. Hicks continues, “But all of a sudden I they uhm embraced, fighting on the ground. Rolling and they rolled from the grass into the road. And then I heard um bang bang bang bang. And then ah the fighting stopped”. (If Tyler was on top of Verdoni, how where they rolling? At no point does Dr. Hicks mention hearing Tyler say “Fuck You. You’re going to have to kill me.” Oh yeah, maybe he whispered that so only Officer Verdoni could hear him.
Why wasn’t Verdoni’s blood taken to see if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol? A kid is dead at the hands of an off duty officer. Shouldn’t we know, for certain, the condition of that officer? Sarasota Sherriff’s Dept. was quick to release that Tyler had been drinking. Did officer Verdoni drink anything that evening? He was off duty after all. A question that can never be answered.
I would also be interested in the trajectory of the bullets that killed Tyler. One was a contact wound and one was close range. Which one came first?
Clearly Officer Verdoni’s statement is not consistent with the witness. Do you have a problem with any of this Jill? Because I sure do!
I find it interesting that Tyler was killed on 4/16/10 and this investigation was completed and signed off on by the State Attorney on 5/5/10. Less than three weeks. Pretty thorough, wouldn’t you say?
Last, I find it even more interesting that Sarasota Sherriff’s Dept. is not conducting an internal affairs investigation into Verdoni’s actions. Should be handling affairs that involve himself? Another conflict. Was it appropriate for an Officer to leave his house, off duty, with only a gun and not request backup while in pursuit of two suspects?
Verdoni is living in the wild west, where is judge, jury and executioner. Hope no one you love runs into him.
Amen!
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100525/COLUMNIST/5251013/2416/NEWS?Title=Lyons-Stupidity-becomes-contagious
At least he’s on desk duty now, maybe someone is starting to see how volatile this guy is. Talk about anger management problems. Hopefully his next move will be out the door. I am really starting to wonder if his discharge from the military was really because of his wife, or if that was just the excuse he used because he couldn’t respect authority and knew he would get in serious trouble if he stayed.
Stirring the pot over and over and over – keep emotions running high, encourage retaliation and hatred, refuse to see that there was a history of harassment in that neighborhood in the past – ring & run, damaged cars – why must one participant in this horrible situation be the devil and the other one an absolute angel? Who is profiting from keeping the young people in this town stirred up – I say to everyone, COOL it before there is another incident and someone else in hurt. For those who think the police investigation was simply a whitewash, another person here talked about investigative reporters. Good idea. Good thing to keep in mind ‘VENGANCE IS MINE, SAYS THE LORD” – it is time for clearer heads to prevail. Spann was not a mature individual – he was a drunken punk. Verdoni – I really don’t know, and I won’t guess as everyone else is doing.
Hey Mindy-
I hardly think ringing a doorbell and running makes you a punk! And certainly he shouldn’t of died because of it. By all accounts this was a really nice kid. You say he was not a mature individual. HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD! Didn’t you ever do anything immature and stupid when you were 20? I haven’t seen anyone on this blog encourage retaliation or hatred. These people want justice! You say everyone is guessing. I am not guessing at anything. I have read the sworn statements of Officer Verdoni, Dr. Hicks and Chris Hayes. I don’t know how anyone doesn’t think the investigation was a whitewash! Officer Verdoni’s account doesn’t match the witness version. In Chris Hayes’ statement the interviewing officer asked Chris if they had smoked any “weed” or taken any drugs. The officer assured Chris that he could tell him, because ya know, he wasn’t a drug cop. Classic good cop interrogation! Chris said that no one in the house smokes weed or takes drugs. Obviously, it is such a big deal that Tyler was “underage drinking”, certainly a capital offense, I’m sure we would have heard if there were any illegal substances in his system. Curiously, not once during his interview was Officer Verdoni asked if he had consumed any alcohol or taken any other substances, prescription or otherwise. NOBODY CARED! This cop went out to take care of business that night and teach these kids a lesson. Well Tyler certainly learned that lesson. Yes, they were wrong to ring the door bell and run. They are kids. They didn’t hurt anyone. Yes, I would be annoyed if they did it to me, but I wouldn’t hunt them down. AGAIN, THEY ARE KIDS!
All I can say is to Tyler and his family is, I’m so sorry. Everyone needs to be doing whatever they can to help Tyler’s family through this very tragic time in their lives.
Although I agree that none of this adds up and further investigation needs to be done on Tyler’s behalf. Lets all take the time to to remember what a special person he was and write is about some of those times. We all need to make this blog uplifting for his family.
Tyler’s family know that you all are all upset and believe me i am too. But lets put this all aside for a little while I wright about some of those happy times you remember with Tyler.
Please don’t anyone take this the wrong way, I’m sure everyone has a story of good times they can share.
love you Tyler
The so called “repeated history of vandalism” is a flat out lie, not that it warrants taking Ty’s life. It was something further to pad the alibi. There may have been one previous incident, but that had nothing to do with Tyler. He didin’t even live in the neighborhood at that time. Mindy, you chimed in as an unbiased opinion. I don’t believe that anymore. To know Tyler is to know he was no drunken punk. Tyler was the kind of young man I wanted my son to hang with, and my daughter to date. Still no practical answers to earlier questions on protocol and duty rig before Verdoni went on his hunt has been answered.
Mindy, if it were your son who had the world in front of him; If it were your son with no previous criminal history whatsoever; if it were your son who was a good student and athlethe and loved by the community, if it were your son who did an immature thing one night that should have in no way ended his life..I am sure you you would view the facts first before the nieve resonse of never believing Police Officer’s and the system could possibly cover up or be persuaded.
To answer questions and make a comment. You ask what I was doing at 20? I was married with a child, husband, home, and job. Someone else refers to Tyler as a “kid” – I can agree that he acted like one, but at age 20, one might expect more maturity. Again, I don’t want too diminish him because I did not know him, but let’s not get carried away with comments that are pretty silly.
To all the youth in Venice who may be following this blog. Above 18 you are now considered an adult. Please continue to lobby for justice, but remember to keep things cool and don’t create any trouble with the police.
There are too many holes in this story and too many people who will not deny the facts, and nothing but the facts to surface, and justice to be served. Please let the process take it’s course. Remember though we all have freedom of speech and the given right as an American to speak out when something smells like a rat. Mindy, I hope the above statement did not encite any violence, or encourage our youth to stand up for their rights and freedoms.
It’s so easy for people to say that if they were at home and it’s 1 am and they have a wife and baby in the house and someone is knocking on their door to Oh, just call the police.
In todays day and age, I would “fear” knocking on anyones door at 1 am. People have the right to protect their homes and family. An off duty officer also has the “right” to pursue someone acting in such a way. Ding Dong has long been a fun game for youth, younger than this man and normally done during reasonable time frames.
Drinking and playing a game like this should be done to homes of friends his own age not a law enforcement officer with a car parked in his driveway.
As to the shortness of time for the investigation how much time is needed to investigate an incident that took, what all of l5 minutes to a half an hour??
With all the drug addictions, home invasions and collapse of our economy people should be on high alert to a harrasing knock upon their door at such an late hour. Didn’t this kid have a prior DUI? One incident of drinking and problems should have been enough of a red flag for the kid to have enough common sense to not drink and go knocking on a police officers door.
I agree wth the poster above the youth need to get involved with their civic duties and being involved in a postive way in the community. Hanging on to this and making assumptions left and right does nothing for either side of this. Two people know exactly what happened and one of them is dead and I’m sure the other one feels remorse but had the legal right to protect his family, home, neighborhood and life.
I was watching the news tonight(25th) channel 40…the report said the Venice police dept would not be doing an investigation because”They just didn’t have the resources to do it properly”.
With the state already signing off on this as ..nothing improper was done…you have to feel really safe, knowing that its ok to murder a young kid because he “disrespected a police officer” by ringing his door bell. You have to feel wonderful knowing your kid could be next. and I hope enough people feel enough outrage to do something about this. Just imagine if this kid had been Black. you would have Jessie. Wright, and every civil rights activist in the country marching around the Venice police station, and that murderer up on charges.
Glen, did you ever know there were so many ignorant people in the world? Wow. Silly comments? First Mindy, let me say one more time, HE WAS A KID. Let me also say that the part of the brain that controls decision making and good judgement isn’t even fully formed until about 25 years of age! Sorry you were married with responsibility at 20 and had to be a grown up. Maybe that’s why the stick is so far up your ass, you never got to be a kid!!!
Johnston,
Officer Verdoni is soooo remorseful that he confronts one of the young ladies at the Race Trac (in uniform) and tells her to stop posting negative comments about him on Facebook. Even if what he did was justified, and believe me, in my opinion I do not think it was, do you think he has a right to try to intimidate someone, while standing behind his badge, with a gun at his side, into keeping quiet? What happened to freedom of speech? If this young lady had said anything that crossed the law and required legal intervention, do you think that Officer Verdoni should be taking that matter into his own hands (like he did with Tyler)? You have approximately 15 kids confronting him at the Race Trac (yes it was wrong and they shouldn’t have done it) and instead of trying to defuse the situation, like a good officer of the law would do, he is inciting them! And really, a kid is dead and he is concerned about Facebook? Maybe he could have just said to them that he was sorry Tyler was dead? That doesn’t admit guilt, but maybe would have shown that he felt a little remorse. Does anyone realize how quickly that situation could have turned deadly? Verdoni learned nothing!! If someone crosses Officer Verdoni he takes matters into his own hands. I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want officers like that where I live! And as for the thoroughness of the investigation, don’t you think every I should have been dotted and every T crossed? If it was your child that was killed, I think you would not only want that, but deserve it! They didn’t even question the discrepancies in his statement as compared to the witness statement. Great police work!
Everyone keeps talking about Tyler drinking. They even questioned his friend as to drug use. Officer Verdoni was off duty, on a Friday evening. First, I think given the circumstances, a 20 year old dead, Officer Verdoni’s blood should have been taken to confirm that he was not impaired. That would have been thourough. It didn’t happen then, and it’s too late now. We will never know for sure. He was not even asked if he had consumed any alcohol or taken any drugs, prescription or otherwise. Where’s the fair and impartial investigation Johnston? I sure don’t see it.
And to the kids reading this, I hope you all realize, confronting Verdoni is not the way to go! It will only lead to trouble. I don’t know Tyler or his family, but I think it would be fair to say that they wouldn’t want to see anyone else hurt or worse. Follow the law and go through the proper channels. It may take time, and it will certainly be frustrating. We can only hope that in the end, justice will prevail. Fight fairly, and show Officer Verdoni how high above him you all are.
Johnston, how long should an investigation go for an incident that lasted 15 minutes? Put yourself in the place of his parents. How long do you think?
As far as him having a previous DUI; again I see grasping for straws by the police to discredit Tyler and justify his death. Your comments about Vedoni having the right to protect his home and family, c’mon give us all a break. If it were myself, who at 45 years old, and has never been in trouble with the law; got my doorbell rang at 1:00 am, grabbed my firearm, which the law allows to protect my family, drove down the road in my car, and gunned down the son of a Police Officer in front of his own house, I would have had the right? I’d be sitting in prison for the rest of my life.
As an adult, and a parent of 2 young adults that grew up with Tyler, I will encourage our youth to continue the battle in the proper forum as you listed above. Just do the community a favor and stop patronizing us with justification for Verdoni’s actions as though we are completely ignorant to the law. Besides Verdoni’s “right” to persue, we still have not had any kind of common sense response to the whereabouts of the officer’s duty rig. In such haste he grabs his gun. Sounds like somebody pissed off and in such fear for his family, leaves them at home alone to chase down Ty.
There are good Police Officer’s out there. Hell, there may even be some good attorneys who are not afraid to completely poke holes in this. One thing for sure, there is one very involved community that will not just lay this to rest until the facts are examined and the case goes to trial. For now, we are being told no actions will be taken. Here’s your gun, here’s your badge. To be continued….
Just one other note; there has been 2 murders in Venice in the past 10 years. Tyler’s was one of them. As far as the home invasions, I certainly hope my robber rings the doorbell first. That way I will know to grab my gun.
Glen, was the officer acting against procedure in not taking his duty belt? If their procedural rules do not require this, getting that changed might bring something positive out of Tyler’s death.
Justice, calling people ignorant who don’t agree with you isn’t too smart either. The witness says in the 911 call that “the kid jumped up and attacked the sheriff”, then he says later that he got up rather slowly; the deputy says at one point that he moved to the front of the car, and that he had Tyler move closer to the car – so who moved where and when?
If this blog is only for your opinions and anyone else is wrong, let me know.
And how mature are you, Justice for Tyler, to make such a derogatory statement about a “stick up my ass”? I can see that there can be no differing opinion about ANY of the events of that terrible night. Therefore, consider that you “won” – I will not comment any longer. Good luck to you in dealing with professional people in your quest for justice with the anger that you exhibit. Better idea, let someone else with more maturity and a professional approach “debate” the issue for you. Whenever a life is lost, whenever a life is ruined, whenever there is such bitterness and vitriol, it is tragic for everyone concerned. I understand the anger and wish to see “justice” done (and exactly how much of a pound of flesh will satisfy – it won’t bring Tyler back), He was a very lucky young man to have the community of love that he appears to have enjoyed, and it is this spirit which I am sure can do more than the negativism and rude, crude behavior of some. How much better it would have been had this young man aspired to further his education and be a college bound youngster rather than a young person living in this town of tourists and the elderly and the walking wounded. I repeat, I never had the pleasure of seeing or speaking with Tyler, and I am sure I would have found him to be the charming person I have heard he was from so many. For everyone else here, may the truth prevail, may justice (whatever form that takes) prevail, and may we return to a place of civility where it is not necessary to attack the individual if you want to attack the comment put forth.
Hey everyone….can we please try to debate this without the name calling? Disagreeing with each other is fine…this would be a very boring place if everyone thought the same thing. But let’s try to leave the name calling out of it. Let’s keep it civil.
Lynn had suggested that people who knew Tyler share some of their memories…if someone would like to write something to get it started, I’d be happy to post it. Just email it to me at amomandherblog@gmail.com
60’s Survivor, great post! Tammy & Lynn, you are correct. Mindi, whether it is written in the officer handbook to persue a perp with the duty rig that contained less lethal weapons than a gun; I don’t know. It certainly gives the impression that he left his house in such haste that he did not take it, but remembered his gun. If carrying your duty rig is not a written rule, I would feel no sence of justice doing the legwork to make it so. “A pound of flesh” is not what we are looking for. If it is ruled a justifiable homicide; up to this point none of the evidence points to it, and the investigation has in no means been thorough enough. Mindi, I appreciate your non-partial opinion, and you are certainly welcome to it. I still have not heard any common sence or reason as to why. The only lesson learned so far is don’t question the police. If fear equals respect, they got their point across. Back to the mean streets of Venice!
When my now 24 year old son was 20 he had more sense then to knock on a door let alone the door of a home with a police car in it. Let’s see, go out and drink under age and then go knocking on doors at 1 am.
What about the rash of home invasions that was occuring in Sarasota County? Had this been a home invasion and the officer killed people would be saying what the heck is an ADULT – yes he was 20, too young to drink but old enough to know you don’t play pranks like that. That is left up to jeuveniles. Apparently the previous problems he had with the law didn’t teach him to not be out in the middle of the night messing with people.
It’s easy in hindsight and I know neither the officer or the man killed but after the fact quarterbacking is easy. How many of you have been in the situation with somone knocking on your door in the middle of the night. This officer doesn’t know if its someone he previously arrested and jailed or not he had a young child to protect as well as his home. What if some perp wanted to just draw him outside and shoot him? Everyone would be like “wow, I can’t believe an officer was shot at his house” or what if it was some drug crazed idiot running around. We never know but it’s not polite, respectuful or expected of a 20 year old who’s been drinking illegally to be out acting like this. I promise you this, I would want nobody knocking on my door at l am, and even if they took off, how am I to know they won’t return or trying to lure me out, distract me. At l am nobody needs to be pulling pranks. One split second decision by that young man changed the course of so many people and it was he who initiated the contact.
I stand firm in my convictions that every action has a reaction and as evidenced by the death of a 20 year old it wasn’t a good reaction. How many parents would sit there teenage kids down today and say it’s ok to go knock on a police officers door at his home in the middle of the night and run??????? Nobody wood so a young adult should know better.
Let’s seperate the actions of the shooting and the gas station and let each stand on their own.
To cover the last couple of days, Glen – …’could have gone a 100 different ways…’ it was only going one way once this thug took a gun to a fist fight. Joe R – ‘If they are that corrupt …’ Joe, they are that corrupt, they lie, they cheat they cover up. The only people they are interested in protecting & serving is themselves and their cronies. ‘… they could have altered all sorts of evidence…’ Again Joe, they do alter evidence, they dispose of it, they invent it, anything to cover a fellow gang members crimes. Johnston – yes he does have a right to protect his family, what he does not have a right to do is hoon around town with a gun in his belt looking for a target.
Does anyone here really believe that if anyone other than a police officer followed the same path with the same result that they would would get the same treatment.
You are 100% right Timsalad. If a private citizen had chased down Tyler and murdered him like the Officer did, that person would be held liable. And that’s the whole issue. That trained killer with a badge, almost a foot taller and a 100 pounds heaver, did not have to go after Tyler.
All I can say is bad Karma has a way of evening things out…bad things happen to bad people too
Timsalad, please reread my (Jill’s) post above, you will see where I quoted Joe R but he did not write the post. Just to clear that up for the Joe’s sake.
The police are not all corrupt and most of them are very good people. Veroni shot at pointblank range, so the issue is who closed the distance between them and with what intent. Tyler was lying on the ground when the deputy pulled up, so what happened from there?
Deputy Carlos Verdoni’s story has more holes in it than Tyler Spann. His “witnesses” too. I didn’t know Tyler personally but have friends that did. Venice is a small town. By all acounts he was a good kid. Had a job, had a future. NO ONE around here believes he would initially ‘comply’ then decide to get up and try to tackle & take a much bigger cops gun away. The kid was a wrestler for cripes sake. Sorry that dog wont hunt.
Make excuses for Verdoni all you want but keep this in mind. Well before the ‘official’ investigation was completed, conducted by other cops btw. Sherrif Knight assured the public he was confident Verdoni would be cleared of any wrongdoing. How did he know that?!
A family & community was robbed of their son by a trigger happy cop is the way we see it. Carlos Verdoni should be sitting in a cell pending the charge of manslaughter. If the Venice police had any cajones he would be.
Oh wait a minute our Police Chief doesn’t have any cajones. Not her fault I suppose. She’s more a politician in a cop suit anyway …
I’m glad Verdoni considers himself a “marked man”. He should. He’s done more with a couple trigger strokes to destroy confidence in the police than few deputies before him.
Rest in peace Tyler.
Rot in hell Verdoni.
Tyler was an angel. There was no way he could be wrong. Especially when he was intoxicated and ringing doorbells. Sounds like someone with a ton of potential. Get off your high horse people. Who cares if Venice is usually quiet And the crime is relatively low. Tyler was a jerk off who got two center mass bc the cop didn’t put up with his shit and when Tyler ATTACKED the cop, the cop did what needed to be done. You are all a bunch of delusional nuts. Rip Tyler. NOT ;)
Keep the Excuses Coming, Your’e so right! This defiant 20 year old irrirated this officer of the law who protects and serves all of us. He deserved two slugs for his actions. We might as well just declare all Police Officers as “profits” or an extension of GOD. Why not? They have the guns and the law behind them. They can murder, package and wrap it, and justify it. This 6 foot officer was too much of a pussy to subdue a 5′4″ man. Death was the only option!
Your comments are so ignorant! You did not know Tyler. He did have his whole world in front of him, and was a good young man! Nobody on this blog denies Tyler made a mistake. Obviously you sport a badge just like this proud officer Verdoni. You’re a disgrace to the badge! Have some respect for Tyler’s family before you make such an insensitive remark. He did not deserve to die, and does deserve to RIP.
Venice being a quiet place is totally relevant to this story. 2 murders in a decade with Verdoni being one of the murderers. If there is still justice in this country, Verdoni will go down along with all of those who protect this murderer! Venice does not need this cowboy justice with all the bullies at the station high fiveing each other over the death of a 20 year old man who was the community’s son.
To those that serve and serve well, Thank you! For the ignorrant PIG like yourself, go blow Verdoni! We don’t need you! Keep believing that you serve society. You serve no one but yourself!
I live less than a mile from the scene of the crime(s) and haven’t followed this story as closely as I should have.
Was the blood alcohol level of the officer taken that evening? That would seem to be a standard procedure for any LEO discharging his weapon off-duty when a life is lost.
This situation has not diffused at all in this quiet town. The Sarasota County folks who have concluded(?!) this ‘investigaton’ need to hold a town hall meeting at the venice community center and explain exactly what happened and answer all and every question that this community has in this incident.
I saw the mourners and supporters of the young man out on bus. 41 today and can’t believe this incident is closed in the minds of Sarasota county. Its not closed in the hearts of many many Venice residents and they need to understand and address that.
Thanks longtimevenice resident! No, there was no BAT taken on Officer Verdoni. One week after the murder he was back on the streets with gun in hand. We are all expected to believe that this 3 day investigation was thorough enough and justice was served. There is more inconsistencies in the way this went down, and we are expected to just honor the story of this murderer and the crooked local justice system protecting him. The people of this community will not sweep it under the rug like our failed system has. I hope they all go down!
I don’t think those who live outside this quiet island of venice can truly appreciate how over the top this officer’s response truly was. all the “home invasions” cmon. I have kind of bragged for years to people from other places that the only murders in venice occur once every decade or more in a domestic dispute. guess I have been proved wrong.
the only good that may come of this is that I would hope that off duty officers with simple nuisance incidents are required to involve fellow LEO to handle neighborhood disputes.
in my life i have had my neighbors irritate the heck out of me.
summary execution was never a legal option thank god
i dont know if you guys have heard but verdoni confronted all of us at racetrac last month. he had some nerve to call us pieces of shit a month after he took our dear friends life. now ya tyler and chrises decision to ring the doorbell probably wasnt right. big deal. do u need to come out with a gun in your waistband? i dont know how many of your people actually knew tyler but he stood 5 4. he was rock solid. he was part of the nra. he knew better than to reach for a gun witch leaves me a little confused how verdoni would even try to say he did. and i promise you if verdoni got up without a bruise or a scratch on his body tyler did not attack him. i played high school football with tyler spann and i promise u if he tackled that scumbag verdoni probably wouldnt have been able to find his own gun. but for him to say tyler attacked him and come up with out any marks at all is a little fishy. idk where u guys all come from but venice is not a town where ppl get shot or robbed. venice is a small ass quiet town on the beach where ppl drink beer play horseshoes and have a good time. but if you guys think honestly tyler deserved this your fucking crazy. verdoni is physco he confronted 8 of us at a racetrac gas station and said he would take us all to jail. ummm the only problem was we didnt do anything wrong. so verdoni can go fuck himself. im glad he is behind a desk so he cant go shoot another person for no reason.
enough said tyler didnt deserve this and justice will be served
http://defenestrator.org/ellerbe_suit
The attached story is very parallel to Tyler’s, but different. The police did not count on this kid’s parents to fight the system either, but they did! It’s amazing how quickly the law wants to brush their “OVER THE TOP” tactics under the rug, and justify every action they make as, “being in the heat of battle.” This kid was shot in the back, and the initial local and state investigation cleared the police of any wrong doing. It was only through the perseverance and fight of the parents with refusing to believe this is acceptable, was justice served. God bless you Mr. & Mrs. Spann! We pray for justice for Tyler!
Why do you only allow comments that you want, for instance, you have the kid that they charged for the
alex teehee hit and run as guilty. you are one sided and you should not allow only comments that are one sided. shame on you.
By the way, while waiting for moderation, the kid they have charged is not guilty, the teehee family is on a witchhunt. you should know the facts and you do not.
Carrie, I very rarely delete comments. If they’re full of curse words or are hurtful/hateful to the victims of crimes (and being hit and left at the side of the road to die is a victim of a crime, no matter how you look at it), than yes, I delete. It’s my blog and I’m allowed to do that. But if you took the time to read everything, you’ll find that there are MANY opinions posted in the comments. And I haven’t called anyone guilty, as far as the Teehee case goes, I said that someone had been charged. Which they had. It’s not my job to decide who’s guilty, that’s what we have the judicial system for.
And btw, your comment is up from the other day, and has been. Only your name was Kathy that day. You must be looking at the wrong post. Try here: http://amomandherblog.com/who-killed-alex-teehee/
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