On the morning of May 8th, 2025 in Lake County, Florida, a crossing guard was struck by a motor vehicle after the driver refused to comply with her lawful stop signal in an active school zone crosswalk. What followed was a disciplined field investigation that ended in a felony arrest and raises important questions about pedestrian law, probable cause, and the legal weight of conflicting witness accounts coming. >> Okay, perfect. Great. Do >> you need EMS? >> Pardon me? No, I I'm I'm okay. I'm just shook up. 20 cents. Too late. 54 a.m. Thank the complaint now. >> Can I have your driver license first? >> I don't have my license. >> I just have my ID. >> Yeah, >> I got to call my boss to >> But I wanted to call the police before while I still remember the license plate number. >> Yeah. No, I get that. >> What's your date of birth? >> 4762. >> 4762. >> Mhm. 20 seconds too late. 65 a name. Last name Larson. Common spelling. First name Bobette. Bravo. Oscar. Bravo. Echo. Tango. Tango. Echo. So far. Do 47 1962. Y female. 1048. >> Do you want a water? Oh my god. I I just live across. I'm okay. >> So, what happened, Miss Bull? >> I was standing over there and I was going to come across the street and the car was coming. So, I blew my whistle, put my sign out, and she just come flying up to the stop and she went through the like over the not the crosswalk sign, but the white. And I went, "Stop." I said, "It's 20 miles an hour through here." And she goes, "Get out of my way." And I started to walk and she started to go. Well, I didn't even have time to get out of the way. And she just kept coming at me. So I put my hands on the car like this and she just kept pushing going forward and pushing me. And I was just like, "Stop." And she just like turned her car and went the other way, you know, went around me. But and when she went down, then I I I was able to see what her license plate number was. >> So So did she know she hit you? >> Yeah. I mean, she came at me and I put my hands down and she kept pressing forward and she hit my legs. Do you want to pursue charges? >> Yeah. >> Definitely. >> Miles an hour through here. And she goes, "Get out of my way." And I put my hands on the car cuz she kept pushing forward. And then she came through. She like hit like my thighs. Not hard, but she was like trying to push me out of the way. And I go, "Stop." AND SHE GOES, "GET OUT OF MY WAY." And she turned and she went around me and took off. >> Miss Bob, do you have a driver license from Florida or out of Florida? >> I'm a Florida. I'll get it all. >> Yeah. >> Just your name, address, uh, name, date of birth, address, a good phone number for you and then fill out exactly what you just told us. What what occurred, >> okay? >> Cuz I'd say she was young. She might have been late 20s, early 30s, black. I don't, you know, I couldn't tell what her size. >> Did you come that Did you saw that car coming out from the school? No, it was coming down. Okay. >> Yeah. >> No, it didn't come out of the school cuz I saw her way back there. >> Okay. >> Yeah, cuz that's when I cuz I gave her plenty of time to see me coming, you know, put my sign up. And >> And your whistle help? >> Yeah. >> That's all right. Doesn't matter if you had your sign in whistle or not. fact that she was yelling at you until you get out of the way because she saw you and you're a pedestrian so you have to ride away and you're clearly marked as a a crossing car. >> And where were you at when this occurred? Center of the intersection or in the crosswalk? >> No, that one. >> I was in the crosswalk. >> You were in the crosswalk? >> I was just coming out of Yeah. into the crosswalk and she came flying up and so I'd say I was probably >> so but you're >> 5t out into the cross already. >> So I'm just going to take a picture of you so we can see what you're wearing and that's your side and stuff over there. >> Yeah. >> You want to prosecute, correct? >> Yeah. >> That's ridiculous. >> I agree. >> That's ridiculous. I mean she wouldn't even let me get out of the way. I was trying to get out of the way when I told her to stop, you know, and and she she just kept coming at me. So, I was afraid if I put I mean, I know I can't push the car away, but if I put my hands up, I was afraid she'd knock me over. And then >> So, you did put your hands on the hood. >> Yeah. >> Perfect. I want to dust the car for >> Under Florida Statute Section 316.130, any pedestrian in a marked crosswalk holds absolute right of way over motor vehicle traffic. A crossing guard displaying a stop sign and whistle functions as an independent traffic control device under Florida law. Her authority is not conditional on school zone warning lights being active and is not diminished by the absence of visible pedestrian traffic. It is continuous during her duty hours and legally binding on all drivers. The victim stated she placed both hands on the vehicle hood in a defensive posture as the car continued to advance. The officer immediately recognized the evidentiary value of this detail. Handprint impressions on the hood constitute physical corroboration entirely independent of any witness statement. Under Florida statute, section 784.03, battery is defined as any intentional unwanted touching against the will of another person. Serious injury is not required. Any intentional vehicle contact with a person in a crosswalk satisfies the statutory threshold. >> I got witness too. >> We got Who's witness? Uh, one of the If you can give a photo of who they are, you give me a statement for it. >> Um, she's from the county. >> The one that come the one that come on. >> Which one? What color hair? >> A black female. >> Do you have a pepper shirt today? >> Yes. >> Do you >> I want to say a white top, but I I can't be positive. >> Do you show her hair? Did she have braids? >> Does she have black? No, she had just black hair. It was just kind of combed, you know, nice. It wasn't braids or anything. It was just short from what I could tell. Had her bangs combed over >> 20. >> Signal 14. The driver is a black female. She have regular hair, no braids. 48. Can't be done. >> That's what she did. She just went right over the line as I was in the crosswalk and I told her, "Stop." I said, "It's 20 m an hour from here. You got to stop." And she goes, "Get out of my way." >> Oh, she went to Orange County. >> She did. That's that's what u lumber said that um the RPR hit um going on Scoffield. >> That's what he said. Scoffield Road and going to Cook. So that's Orange County then. >> Okay. I'm just I'm going to school or the the house. We'll find out who >> Hello. >> Hi. >> So I'm Deputy Snow. Um I'm assistant with this. So what what happened with the phone call? >> Okay. She called and um I could tell she was a black woman. She was kind of panicking and I could see the numbers. I immediately wrote it down when I realized it was her. >> Okay. >> Um I did hear the other woman come in, but she spoke Spanish and told my coworker what she had seen down here. It was one of our parents dropping off a child. >> Okay. >> And um I did I do understand what she was saying. So I did know something happened and we sent people out here. So she calls and she says this happens all the time. She has her three-year-old in the car and she's going, she has to go to Apaka every day, take the child there. >> And this woman has done this. She's got it in for her. She's all the time trying to stop her every day for no reason. And she hit her car with her stop sign. And so she went around. I said, "You didn't hit her with your car?" "No." I said, um, she said, "Yeah, she got up and walked away." >> That's what she told me. >> Okay. >> And that she's got it in for her. That was in strictly. Not my fault. Didn't do it. She hit my car with her stop sign. >> Do you mind filling out a piece of paper? Just put on paper what you just told me. >> Okay. I didn't Well, it was a note I wrote. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Just on our form real quick. Let me get it signed up for you. Yeah, >> let me see it real quick. >> Okay, I forgot the reason she called. She wanted the cross walker of the cross guard's name. >> Okay, >> that's what it was. And I said, you know, they work for the sheriff's department. Um, and she's got the right to stop you. >> Mhm. >> And even at the end of the day, there's no kids or anything like >> Yeah. And that's what she was saying, nobody's around, blah blah blah. Well, the crossing guard like pedestrian in the crosswalk has right away. >> I know. Absolutely. I mean, I tried to explain that to her and from what I understood, she was sitting down because she was hit by the car. >> Yeah. >> Or that she pushed her with the car or whatever. I don't know. >> Well, so the way the statute reads for battery, it's unwanted touch or strike. So, it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be like a hit like >> right >> that could be battery. >> Okay. Got it. >> Just a touch. >> Yeah. So, >> yeah. No, I didn't do anything to her. She hit my car with her with her sign. >> Yeah. >> And I was like, look, she knew you. >> Yeah. Well, we have her phone number and stuff. We've talked to her before. >> Yeah. I down. Well, she did give it to me. I said, I'll report this for you. That's what I said to her. >> Thank you. All right. Can you do me a favor? Can you raise your right hand? >> You swear that everything that's affidavit is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> I do. >> All right. I need your signature right here. Right here? Yep. >> And that's all I need from you. Thank you very much. >> All righty. >> The school staff witness provided a piece of evidence that went beyond personal observation. She reported that the driver called the school in the immediate aftermath of the incident, apparently seeking the crossing guard's name. Under Florida evidence law post incident conduct reflecting awareness of wrongdoing is admissible as consciousness of guilt to a person genuinely unaware that any incident occurred does not contact the school to identify the crossing guard by name within minutes of the event. At the point officers prepared to approach the driver. They held three independent evidentiary pillars, the victim's sworn account, a corroborating independent witness statement, and physical evidence on the vehicle. Under the totality of circumstances test established in Illinois versus Gates in 1983, probable cause does not require certainty. It requires a reasonable belief based on articulable facts that a crime was committed by the person being arrested. That threshold was effectively satisfied before the driver spoke a single word. >> 1950 be out at the bar address contact with subject. >> Hello Zinda Zate. What' you say? >> Zena. >> Zena. >> Oh, Debbie May sheriff's office. Tell me what's So, now that I'm here with you, what's what happened? >> So, basically, I'm trying to make sure I'm not sitting in my ant cuz there's a lot of ants over here. Um, so basically the lady who stopped me for months, I don't know if if it it's because she has a problem with me or what it is, but every time it's nobody out there like crossing cuz the only time she probably see me is on Thursdays cuz that's when I'm off. I take my daughter to school a little later at like 9:00, but I have to leave early cuz I her school's in the public. Only time she see me is on Thursdays. If if it's nobody outside like it looks empty like that, she will purposely stop me for no reason and I sit there for a good five 10 minutes just sitting in my car cuz there's nobody there and then she'll let me go. So today >> you have dash cam or anything? >> No. >> No. Okay. >> I wish I did cuz I was going to record it but I was just, you know, I'm not going to do all that cuz that's a little extra. I'm driving my baby's in the car. I have my camera. I'm not doing that. >> How old your your child? >> She's only two. two. Okay. >> Who is that? >> She's only I don't even know who that is. She's only two. So, I'm not going to speed in a car with my baby. Like, that's one thing I ever do. >> Well, I'm not here for speeding. >> Yeah. I don't speed or anything. But no, it's because she stopped me and she was like, "You need to stop your speeding." I'm just like, "I'm not speeding. I'm going 20 miles per hour. That's the speed limit." >> And she literally like, "Can I demonstrate?" >> Sure. But so she took on my first she was right here and she told me to stop. Then she walked up to my car and was like this. You need to stop. And I'm just like why are you in my car? So I backed it up and I put it in park and she's walking closer to my car. Every time I try, you know, back up to avoid her, she's coming closer. So I just put my car in park. So she's on this side of my car. My car already been damaged from October. So somebody did See, exactly. That's That's older damage. >> Yeah. Someone did a hit on my car. So, she was standing like this trying to point at me and I'm just like, "Can you please move?" Like, I'm just trying to take my my baby to school. Can you please move? She cannot move. But mind you, the the road over there, like, you can see how big it is. She's literally standing right here on the side of my car. She's literally a step away from the sidewalk. She's standing on my car and hit my car. So I what I do I back out of I back in reverse and I speak past her because now you're hitting my car. I'm not doing anything to you. I'm in the car. Didn't even hit. >> She's hitting it with what? >> Her stop sign. >> Where? >> She hit it like this. >> She hit it I I don't know if it's any marks but she hit my car right here. Like right here. She hit it with a stop sign. >> It's like she need to stop like hitting my car. So I sp nobody to stop me. Nobody school and I don't know if if they have a certain hours or not, but you can clearly tell that everybody's in school and nobody's out. It's no kids, no adults, no nothing. >> Were the yellow lights still flashing on the um lights? >> No. >> No. >> No, >> they weren't. >> No, when I was there. No, they weren't. >> But I was still, you know, trying to be >> Well, I'm going to let you know when I went back through there to talk to her, all the yellow lights were working. And when I was here early, when I was in the area at 7:45, all the lights were on. So they they stay on constantly. They don't shut off, turn back on. So before the incident occurred, the lights were working. And after the incident occurred, they were still flashing. >> So So that tells me that they were still flashing when you went through the incident occurred. So for you to tell me that they weren't flashing is false. The driver introduced a narrative of prior harassment, claiming the crossing guard repeatedly stopped her without cause on days when no children were present. Under criminal law, this claim is legally irrelevant to the battery charge. The selective enforcement doctrine established in Ren versus United States in 1996 requires proof of discriminatory intent and effect and does not defeat probable cause already built on independent physical and testimonial evidence. A history of prior stops does not authorize a driver to use a vehicle against a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The driver claimed the school zone warning lights were not flashing at the time of the incident. The officer refuted this directly with personal observation made at 7:45 a.m. and confirmed by patrol log records showing lights operational before and after the incident. More importantly, this claim is legally immaterial. Under Florida statute section 316.75, a crossing guard's traffic control authority derives from her uniform stop sign and official position not from the status of overhead warning lights. The lights argument was both factually false and legally irrelevant. Across the course of the interview, the driver's account shifted materially three times. First framing the crossing guard as an aggressor targeting her personally, then claiming the school zone lights were inactive. then offering a new positional claim that she was before the stop line and not in the crosswalk. Under Florida evidence law, multiple contradictory statements by a suspect constitute evidence of consciousness of guilt and are factored directly into probable cause determinations. Critically, the driver's fifth amendment right to remain silent was available at every stage. Her voluntary statements without counsel produced a record of inconsistencies that substantially strengthened the state's probable cause case. Yeah, but I'm saying I was still doing the speed. I wasn't speeding or anything. >> I'm not here for speeding. >> Yeah, I know. But she she on my car. I was I was in the I don't know like I was before the ride on the stop sign. >> Okay. >> So, I was just sitting there. She walked up to my car. >> Do you have your ID on you? >> Yes, I do. >> Just so I can verify exactly who you are. >> Are there any weapons in the vehicle? But the harassment's been going on for months. >> Okay. Why haven't you contacted somebody at the school about that? >> I didn't know where to contact them. I asked my mom about it. She was like, "You can probably come to school, but I just never had time to." >> Okay. >> Always so early. >> Okay. All right. So, what's going to happen now is based on witness statements and everything, you are going to go to jail for aggravated battery with the motor vehicle. Okay. >> Can I put my phone in my >> Yep. We'll let your mom come out and get all that stuff. Is there anything you want to go with jail with you? >> My phone. >> You want your phone? >> Your phone? Which Which one is that? The green one or the one on the hood? >> It's the one on the hood. >> So, why am I going to jail? >> 1915. Like Miss Brown's 10:15. >> Can I unlock it to call her dad? >> I'm going to let her your your mom know. Come over here. Why am I going to >> told you? Aggravated battery of the motor vehicle. >> But I didn't hit her with my car. >> That's not what all the witnesses is saying. Your statement does not match what our independent witness said. >> What did the witness say? >> Witness said you drove up and you were in the crosswalk. >> I wasn't in the cross. >> Can you at least bring the door back to my mom? >> We will. >> Hello. the sheriff's office. I'm >> scared. >> Yeah. Let you know. Um how do you say Zeta? >> Yeah. >> She's going to go to jail for aggravated battery at a motor vehicle. After speaking with the witnesses and her um it's found that she's she ran into the uh crossing guard intentionally with her vehicle, disregarding the crossing guard's um orders to stop. Um so she'll be going to Lake County Jail. She'll have no bond. She'll have to appear in front of the judge and then the judge will issue her a bond amount. Okay. >> My god. Are you serious, sir? >> So, her word means nothing. >> Well, I have the victim's statement. I have a independent witness that told me what they saw. >> Crossing guard trying to stop her for if you just >> I have no idea. I don't It doesn't matter. Crossing guard is pedestrian in the crosswalk. Pedestrians have the rightway in the state of Florida while in the crosswalk. Okay. Regardless if they're a crossing guard or just a kid or just some random person, they're in the crosswalk. They have a right away. Um, so because of that, because the independent witness and what they told me and what they observed and then what she told me and what she told me I can confirm is not true with some of the parts she told me is as far as what was going on. Uh, that's why she's going to jail. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> She'll appear in front of a judge and then the judge will issue a bond. She'll be allowed to make phone calls. She wants you also to be able to lock up her car, get some of her stuff out of her car, sit in the driveway. >> Is the keys in? >> I believe the keys are ready. >> Everything. Okay. You keep the license. >> I keep license to go with her to her phone. She'll have a phone. We get >> She in the car now. >> She's in my car now. >> Can I come out? >> Absolutely. If you want to talk to her, you can. The arrest charge of aggravated battery with a motor vehicle under Florida statute section 784.045 elevates simple battery to a felony when the offender uses a deadly weapon. Florida courts have consistently held that a motor vehicle used intentionally against a person qualifies as a death under this statute. The no bond hold pending first appearance is consistent with Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.131, which applies to felony arrests and requires judicial review of pre-trial release conditions before any bond can be set. At the time of this analysis, the final disposition of criminal charges filed against the driver remains unknown. Based on the evidence developed on scene, the charge would likely withstand probable cause review under the standard established in Beck versus Ohio in 1964. Whether the matter proceeded to trial resolved by plea or was otherwise dismissed is a matter of public record that has not been confirmed at this time. The responding officer receives an A minus. The investigation was methodical evidence first and legally grounded. Sequential evidence building prior to arrest, accurate real-time articulation of Florida pedestrian and battery statutes, and direct evidentiary confrontation of the driver's false claim about school zone lights using personal observation and patrol records. A minor deduction reflects the absence of on camera Miranda documentation at the moment the arrest decision was communicated to the driver. A procedural best practice that protects against future suppression arguments. Deputy Snow receives a straight A for a textbook independent witness interview. Non-leading technique properly administered oath sworn written affidavit completed on camera and accurate identification of the driver's post incident contact with the school as legally significant consciousness of guilt evidence. The victim receives an A. She remained composed under genuine distress, provided a materially consistent account across multiple retellings, retained the critical license plate number immediately after the incident, and cooperated fully with every stage of evidence documentation without exaggeration. The driver receives a D three shifting accounts within a single interview, a materially false factual claim contradicted by officer observation and records, and voluntary statements made without counsel that directly contradicted physical evidence and sworn witness testimony. A D rather than an F reflects solely the absence of physical resistance or escalatory conduct after the arrest notification was delivered. The underlying conduct and the statement record it produced represent a serious failure of both legal judgment and factual cander. Three takeaways from this incident. First, physical evidence is decisive. Handprints on a vehicle hood converted a one-on-one credibility contest into a multi-pillar probable cause case. Documenting physical evidence before the scene is disturbed is not optional. Second, voluntary statements without counsel carry significant legal risk. The fifth amendment right to remain silent existed at every stage of this roadside interview. Exercising it would have prevented the creation of the inconsistent statement record that ultimately sealed the probable cause determination. Third, crossing guard authority is absolute under Florida law. It applies regardless of whether school zone lights are flashing, regardless of whether children are visibly present and failure to comply is a traffic violation at minimum and a felony when intentional vehicle contact occurs. Let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below. Thank you for watching.