Mom Of St. Pete Girl Who Died In Pond Plans Lawsuit

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Yashica Clemmons wants her day in court on behalf of her daughter, Dominique Battle, who drowned inside a stolen car in March.

Clemmons and her attorney Aaron O’Neal announced their intentions to sue the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office during a Tuesday news conference staged by the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.

Battle, 16, was inside a stolen Honda Accord that went into a pond on the property of Royal Palm Cemetery on March 31. Ashaunti N. Butler, 15, and Laniya D. Miller, 15, were all in the vehicle. All three were St. Petersburg residents.

See Also:

• 3 St. Pete Teens Killed When Stolen Car Crashes Into Pond

The death of the three girls has sparked controversy as some say Pinellas deputies didn’t do enough to save the three teens after the crash. While Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has said his deputies followed the car that had been reported stolen, others have contended the vehicle was chased.

Omali Yeshitela, Uhuru chairman, has said the girls were “murdered” by deputies who chased them into the cemetery and made the Honda veer into the pond by performing a “pit” maneuver, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Gualtieri has maintained the girls were not being chased and that none of the deputies’ vehicles came into contact with the Honda.

The sheriff’s office has also been faulted for what is perceived as a failure on deputies’ part to try and save the girls from the sinking car. The sheriff says his deputies tried, but had to turn around due to unsafe conditions.

Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch went out to the cemetery in April to gauge the conditions for himself. He took a video camera along and recorded himself trying to wade into the pond where the girls died.

“The video below shows me sinking into the muck on my first step,” Welch wrote on Facebook following his experiment. “I am open to any other information or evidence, but unsupported rhetoric and accusations will not move us forward, nor heal the destructive trends that are at work in our community. The only way to move forward is together, and on a foundation of truth and justice for all.”

How soon the lawsuit will be filed or the damages Battle’s mother intends to ask for remain unclear.

Image via Shutterstock

Sign up for the St. Pete Patch newsletter and alerts!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, too!