Wilcox sees fault on both sides in handcuffing After viewing a tape of the incident, Pinellas' superintendent criticizes the girl as well as the policeman. By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer Published December 3, 2005 ________________________________________[Handout video] This frame from a videotape shows Officer Roberto "Tony" Rolon and Ashley Marie Mitchell during the incident where he handcuffed her aboard a school bus in Safety Harbor. ________________________________________ ST. PETERSBURG - The 13-year-old girl handcuffed aboard a school bus last month was disrespectful and "making this scene that didn't need to be made," school superintendent Clayton Wilcox said Friday. "The officer clearly asked the kids on the bus several times to calm down. She didn't," Wilcox said in an interview after viewing an unedited videotape of the incident. "The whole time he was on the bus she was talking to her friends, she was moving around, looking behind. I don't think she was respectful." Even so, Wilcox said, Officer Roberto "Tony" Rolon probably should not have handcuffed the girl, Ashley Marie Mitchell of Clearwater. "I would have thought that throughout that department it would have been kind of a last resort," Wilcox said, referring to the handcuffing of a kindergartener earlier this year in St. Petersburg - a case that drew international attention. Ashley's father, Luis Mitchell, said Friday he was concerned that his daughter was disrespectful but maintains Rolon's actions were over the top. "He was so upset," Mitchell said, "that he left his emotions get to him." The incident happened Nov. 11 along a Safety Harbor roadside. Rolon, 43, boarded the bus after a student threw a hard object, believed to be a golf ball, out a window. The object caused a car to swerve and nearly hit Rolon's motorcycle as he drove home from work. A videotape from the bus shows Rolon walking to the back after Mitchell stands and shouts she was not the student he was looking for. A portion of the video was released to the news media, but it was partially obscured to protect the identity of other students. Wilcox viewed the unedited version, and said it provides a fuller context for what happened. "The policeman didn't ask anybody to deny who did it," he said. "She stood up, animated - "I didn't do it.' He didn't ask who didn't do it. He asked for help. "Who did do it?' She's just making this scene that didn't need to be made." The tape shows Rolon twisting Ashley's arm behind her back and marching to the front. "I don't play. ... I don't play," he says. He handcuffed her to the railing in the bus stairwell and continued asking questions. A 13-year-old boy later confessed to throwing the object. Ashley, a Safety Harbor Middle School student, was turned over to Pinellas sheriff's deputies, who notified her parents she faced a charge of disorderly conduct. Earlier this week, prosecutors said criminal charges appear unlikely, but a final determination had not been made as of Friday. Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, said Wednesday that Rolon did not set a good example, calling his reaction hotheaded. Bartlett based his opinion at the time on the edited videotape. The St. Petersburg Police Department is reviewing the incident as well and offered no comment Friday. But Chief Chuck Harmon said it might be worth looking into department policy on use of handcuffs. Some area agencies, including the sheriff's office in Pinellas and Pasco, prohibit handcuffing a subject to a vehicle, for safety reasons. St. Petersburg does not offer guidelines to officers. "It may be something we may want to look at," Harmon said. Rolon did not return a phone call seeking comment, though officers generally do not talk when an investigation is under way. Luis Mitchell said he demands respect from his children and spoke sternly to his daughter about her role. Yet, he said, she was not the only one acting out on the bus, and nothing should excuse Rolon's behavior. "We hope that all this will go away," he said. "We're not bad parents." --Staff writer Steve Thompson contributed to this report. [Last modified December 3, 2005, 06:13:25]Girl, 13, unlikely to be charged The State Attorney's Office has reviewed a video of the school bus incident of her being handcuffed. By THOMAS C. TOBIN, Times Staff Writer Published December 1, 2005ST. PETERSBURG - Criminal charges appear unlikely against a 13-year-old Clearwater girl who was handcuffed aboard a Pinellas school bus last month."She did nothing wrong; let's put it that way," Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant in the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office, said Wednesday.Bartlett said he based his opinion on video from the bus shown by local news media. He cautioned that he hoped to view an unedited version of the tape but said he didn't expect to see anything that would change his mind.Ashley Marie Mitchell has been told she faces a possible charge of disorderly conduct, but it's up to prosecutors to decide if such a charge is warranted."It would be a very big stretch" to charge her with disorderly conduct, Bartlett said.He also frowned on the demeanor of arresting officer Roberto Rolon in the Nov. 11 incident."It certainly didn't set a good example for the other kids on that bus to see such a hotheaded reaction," Bartlett said.Rolon, a St. Petersburg police officer, boarded the school bus in Safety Harbor after a student threw a hard object from a window, causing a motorist to swerve. The car almost hit Rolon, who was driving his police motorcycle home from work.As Rolon and the bus driver pressed for a confession from a bus full of Safety Harbor Middle School students, Ashley stood up and shouted that she did not do it. Rolon walked to the back of the bus, pulled Ashley out of her seat, twisted her right arm behind her back and handcuffed her to a rail at the front of the bus.Rolon turned her over to Pinellas sheriff's deputies, who have jurisdiction in Safety Harbor. At some point - it's not clear when - a 13-year-old boy confessed to throwing the object, believed to be a golf ball.St. Petersburg police spokesman Bill Proffitt said any comment from the department would be premature. He said prosecutors usually consider all reports submitted by law enforcement officers before deciding whether to charge someone.After the incident, the sheriff's office notified Ashley's family that she faced a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. The office also offered her the chance to participate in a "diversion" program that allows qualifying juveniles to have the offense erased from their record if they concede their guilt and make amends.Ashley's parents declined the offer, saying the officer overreacted and they wanted their daughter cleared. That prompted the Sheriff's Office to refer the case to the state attorney.To be guilty of disorderly conduct, state law says a person must have committed acts that "corrupt the public morals, or outrage the sense of public decency, or affect the peace and quiet of persons who may witness them." The statute also lists "brawling or fighting" and "such conduct as to constitute a breach of the peace."Pinellas school officials reviewed the video and found Ashley did not violate the district's code of student conduct. An eighth-grader at Safety Harbor Middle School, Ashley is an honors student who plans to attend Clearwater High next year, her parents say.Her attorney, Melissa Miguel of McGuire Law Offices in Clearwater, said Bartlett also shared his views of the video with her. But she said there was no cause to celebrate until prosecutors officially clear the girl."I don't know what their decision is going to be," she cautioned. "It could change. They haven't seen the whole video."Ashley's father, Luis Mitchell, said Wednesday he was ecstatic about the prosecutor's comments and hoped the case could be resolved quickly."That's what it's all about - just clearing her of these criminal charges," he said. "The sooner, the better."[Last modified December 1, 2005, 04:54:46]Re: Girl handcuffed on bus won't be charged, ..ue, 2005-12-13 17:18 — Letters to the ... Ashley Marie Mitchell is very happy because, ""I didn't want it to be on my record.''Unfortunately, the initiating charge of disorderly conduct by law enforcement is on the record! Just because prosecutors have officially ruled out criminal charges against 13-year-old Ashley does not mean that she has no record.A shocking handcuffing by a hotheaded cop often equates to a life-long arrest record for many children.It is outrageous that youthful misbehaviors, often times mere disobedience, continue to be criminalized. These ridiculous arrests detrimentally impact the lives of many children when they encounter employers and landlords who conduct criminal background searches. Those searches list most arrests, even if a formal charge is not filed by prosecutors.The shameful reason for many of the arrests? Juvenile Justice is big business! Thousands of government employees and a multitude of private providers lead the public to believe that juvenile arrests protect society and rehabilitate youth.But, visit a juvenile delinquency courtroom for a few hours and you'll get a sampling of the petty offenses that are clogging up the court system and draining tax dollars. You'll likely get a hefty dose of school-related cases.According to public records of the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center, the top Pinellas County school-related charges for 2004 were disorderly conduct, disruption of school environment and trespassing. There were over 500 charges for these three offenses, calculating to almost 50% of all school-related charges by law enforcement.Stop criminalizing youth! Disorderly and disruptive children are not criminals!Cathy Corry, President, JUSTICE4KIDS.ORG, INC., ClearwaterCry of innocence gets school girl arrested13 year-old Ashley Marie Mitchell proclaimed her innocence to a cop on a Pinellas County school bus. She was promptly handcuffed. Overzealous cops create sensational news stories. In May, when a Pinellas kindergartener was handcuffed, Pinellas County School Superintendent Wilcox said, "We've criminalized what use to be common school behaviour. We need to stop that."Schoolgirl awaits prosecutor’s decision By LESTER R. DAILEY Article published on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005 SAFETY HARBOR – For the second time in less than a year, the St. Petersburg Police Department is embroiled in a controversy regarding the handcuffing of a schoolgirl.In March, an international uproar arose after St. Petersburg officers handcuffed a kindergartener who was throwing a temper tantrum at Fairmount Park Elementary School.The latest situation started on Nov. 11, when Roberto “Tony†Rolon, an off-duty St. Petersburg officer, was riding his department-issued motorcycle home. In Safety Harbor, where Rolon lives, a Cadillac on Ninth Street swerved and narrowly missed him. The driver reported having to swerve to avoid a hard object, probably a golf ball, thrown from a school bus.Rolon stopped the bus, filled with Safety Harbor Middle School students, and boarded it.A security camera on the bus videotaped Rolon, a St. Petersburg officer since 1982, lecturing the students and telling them to calm down. Without being directly addressed by Rolon, Ashley Marie Mitchell, 13, loudly proclaimed from the back of the bus that she wasn’t the one who threw the object.Saying “I don’t play,†Rolon walked to Mitchell, twisted her arm behind her back and handcuffed her to a handrail in the front stairwell of the bus.He then called Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, who have jurisdiction there. They arrested Mitchell, replaced Rolon’s handcuffs with their own and called her mother to come and get her.The matter was referred to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s office, which must decide whether to prosecute Mitchell for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. After viewing an edited tape of the incident released to the news media, Bruce Bartlett, the chief assistant to State Attorney Bernie McCabe, said there did not appear to be sufficient evidence to support the charge. But he wants to see the unedited tape before making a final decision.Bartlett could not be reached for comment. But Mitchell’s defense attorney, Melissa Miguel, said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that, as far as she knows, Bartlett has not yet decided. She added that she is solely a criminal defense attorney and does not handle civil suits, but to her knowledge, Mitchell’s parents, Luis and Alexis Mitchell, have no plans to sue the St. Petersburg Police Department or anyone else.They have, however, filed a complaint against Rolon with the department.The complaint is being investigated by the department’s Traffic Division, to which Rolon is assigned. It is routine for minor infractions to be investigated by the accused officer’s own division, while more serious allegations are investigated by Internal Affairs. The department will have no comment while the matter is under investigation.Rolon, 43, has several complimentary letters from citizens and a few official commendations in his personnel file, but he also has a few black marks. Last year, a notice was placed in his file that he had pushed and cursed a rookie officer during a training exercise. A year earlier, a memo was put in the file, saying Rolon had violated department procedure by putting his foot in a door to prevent a man from closing it on him. Also in 2003, he received a verbal reprimand for tapping his foot to show his impatience with a probationary officer.Pinellas school superintendent Clayton Wilcox, who viewed the unedited tape, has said that Mitchell and Rolon both behaved badly. He is on the record as saying that Mitchell was “just making this scene that didn’t need to be made,†and Rolon “was so upset that he let his emotions get to him.â€A 13-year-old boy who has since moved to Germany, eventually admitted to throwing the object. Article published on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005 Copyright © Tampa Bay Newspapers: All rights reserved.