Protest Rally At State Fair Planned In Memory Of Riverview Teen

TAMPA, FL -- As the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office prepares to put its safety plan in place before organizers of the 2019 Florida State Fair"flip the switch" Thursday morning, a Tampa Bay social action group is calling the fair's safety into question.

For the fifth year, the Restorative Justice Coalition will host a protest rally outside the fairgrounds on Saturday, Feb. 9, in memory of a 14-year-old Riverview teen who was hit and killed by a car after sheriff's deputies ejected him from the event during the annual Student Day at the state fair.

At noon, the coalition and partner organizations will meet in the First Amendment Zone at Gate 4 off U.S. 301 at the fairgrounds to remember Andrew Joseph III.

An eighth-grade student at St. Stephen Catholic School in Riverview, Joseph was attending the state fair with thousands of other Hillsborough County students in 2014 when a fight broke out. The sheriff's office arrested 12 students and ejected another 99 students from the fairgrounds.

Although witnesses said Joseph wasn't involved in the scuffle, he somehow got caught up in the chaos and was among the students to be ejected.

parents, Deanna and Andrew Joseph II, said a sheriff's deputy dropped him off two miles from the fairgrounds. Joseph had to cross Interstate 4 to return to the fairgrounds to meet his scheduled ride back home. While crossing the interstate, he was struck and killed by a car.

The sheriff's office called it a tragic accident. The Restorative Justice Coalition called it blatant discrimination (see related story).

"Andrew Joseph III was just 14 years old when the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the Florida State Fairgrounds racially profiled him, detained him, ejected him and then escorted him out of the fair--leaving him near a dark and busy highway where he was struck by an oncoming vehicle and lost his life," said the coalition in a press statement. "No one from HCSO or the fairgrounds bothered to call his parents and, as such, they are responsible for this tragedy."

In addition to hosting the rally on Saturday, the coalition is asking residents to boycott Student Day at the fair and sign a pledge agreeing not to give financial support to the state fair until the Florida State Fair Board of Directors agrees to donate a percentage of the fair's annual proceeds to the Andrew Joseph Foundation for the next 14 years. The foundation was established by Joseph's parents after his death.

The coalition is also demanding a written apology from the fair board acknowledging their responsibility in the death of the teen, the placement of a visible memorial to Joseph at the fairgrounds and bias training for all fair management, employees, security personnel and any off-duty police officers or sheriff's deputies hired to work at the state fair.

"We are still seeking justice," said coalition member Angel D'Angelo. “Andrew Joseph III was a high-performing student in school, never had any disciplinary problems, anything like that. So when he approached his parents about going to the Student Day at the fair, they thought it would be a great idea. It looked like a safe and fun place for children to go."

D'Angelo said the fun ended that evening when the sheriff's gang unit began rounding up kids judged to be "troublemakers."

"They rounded up a large sum of children, most of them black, and took them into their detention area," said D'Angelo.

To this day, said D'Angelo, no one can explain how the well-behaved Catholic school student got caught up in the sweep.

"They searched him. They looked for gang tattoos and piercings, none of which they found, took a mugshot, did all of that stuff. But he was never charged or officially accused of any wrongdoing," said D'Angelo.

"It's now five years later and neither the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office nor the Florida State Fair have taken any type of responsibility for his death," D'Angelo said.

Since Joseph's death, the sheriff's office has changed its procedures for dealing with rowdy students at the fair.

This week, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said he's doing everything possible to make sure students are safe. He said he has dedicated a large number of deputies, including school resource deputies and mounted patrol deputies, to help monitor Student Day on Friday, Feb. 8.

"We want to be visible," said Chronister. "We'll have deputies stationed from the parking lots to the midway, from Kiddie Land to Cracker Country, so anytime anybody needs assistance, there's always a deputy nearby to help. We put a lot of time and effort into putting a safety plan in place months in advance because we want every family to feel safe while they're having fun."

Images via Restorative Justice Coalition

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