ST. PETE: Charges Dropped Against Both Men in City Council Brawl

Pinellas County prosecutors have decided to drop charges against two (2) men who got into a humorous fist fight at a St. Petersburg City Council meeting.

Frederick Dudley and Ronald Deaton were arrested in October after they began throwing punches during an argument over a decision to privatize a public sidewalk.

The men, ages 76 and 61, respectively, were charged with Disorderly Conduct.Assistant State Attorney Richard Ripplinger said authorities have “better things to do than prosecute a couple of old men who got angry in the heat of the moment.” In my opinion, while the State of Florida got this one right, we unfortunately see many silly and ridiculous prosecutions in the Tampa Bay area that should be dropped like this one (especially in today’s economic climate with our government working with limited resources).

The decision to cede the public sidewalk fronting the downtown BayWalk entertainment complex had been the subject of intense debate for weeks.

For more information on this story, including a link to the actual video of the infamous fight, please check out this Bay News 9 link.

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