Lawsuit Pending In Girls’ Stolen Car Crash Deaths: Report

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Friday marks the one-year anniversary since three teenage girls plunged to their deaths in a stolen car that crashed into a pond at a St. Petersburg cemetery. Now, the mother of one of those teens is expected to file an intent to sue the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office for alleged negligence in its handling of the incident.

Yashica Clemmons, the mother of Dominique Battle, contends negligence led to her 16-year-old’s March 31, 2016, death. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has insisted his deputies did all they could to save Battle and the two other teens in the car: Laniya Miller and Ashaunti Butler, both 15.

Clemmons and her family, however, aren’t satisfied with the explanations provided by the sheriff’s office about what happened that night. They say more could have been done to prevent the deaths, according to Bay News 9.

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According to reports released by the sheriff’s office at the time of the deaths, the three girls were inside a stolen Honda Accord that crashed into a retention pond on the property of Royal Palm Cemetery. Deputies, Gaultieri has said, attempted to dive into the pond to rescue the teens, but were forced to retreat due to heavy mud and muck.

Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch went out to the cemetery in April 2016 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.

Clemmons and her attorneys also take issue with the sheriff's office's version of events that led up to the crash, including whether the initial attempt to stop the car was legal, Bay News 9 reported.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office has said all three girls had criminal histories. Battle had an active warrant at the time of her death, according to a March 31, 2016, email from the sheriff’s office. She had also been arrested nine times in the past on charges ranging from residential burglary to vehicle theft.

Butler, also had active warrants. Her arrest record included five past arrests, including resisting arrest and vehicle theft charges. Miller’s criminal history was less lengthy. She had one arrest in March 2015 for vehicle theft, the email said.

At the time of the girls’ deaths, Gualtieri spoke out about the “epidemic” of auto thefts in the community and the need to curb juvenile crime.

"Solutions need to come deep from within the community,” he said. “Kids need to know there are consequences. This is a systematic and complex problem. Three dead teenagers is not acceptable.”

The girls' deaths sparked several protests in Pinellas County last year.

To find out more about the lawsuit, read Bay News 9’s coverage.

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