GAINESVILLE — The state agency that an Alachua County grandmother called to protect her grandchildren in 2013 failed to heed a recommendation that the children be kept away from their grandfather, who later killed them, according to Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell.

During a 2013 child abuse investigation, the University of Florida Child Protection Team warned the Florida Department of Children and Families after interviews with Kylie Kuhlmann, Kaleb Kuhlmann and Johnathon Kuhlmann that the children should not have contact with Don C. Spirit, according to Darnell.

But that message was either ignored, forgotten or not relayed fast enough. Sarah Spirit told a DCF agent sometime after Sept. 1, 2014, that she and her six kids were moving in with her father.

On Sept. 18, Don C. Spirit shot and killed his daughter and her six children before killing himself behind his home north of Bell.

Using a powerful .45-caliber handgun, Spirit fatally shot Kylie, 9, Kaleb, 11, Johnathon, 8, and their siblings Destiny Stewart, 5, Brandon Stewart, 4, and Alanna Stewart, born on June 28. Spirit also killed their mother, Sarah Spirit, 28.

Both the UF team and the Florida Department of Health refused to confirm that they interviewed the children, citing confidentiality laws.

However, Darnell said an Alachua County deputy's role in the June 1, 2013, child abuse case brought to DCF by the grandmother of the children, Christine Jeffers, and the Sept. 18 murder-suicide prompted Darnell to request an inquiry.

“I was advised that, regarding our contact with DCF and Christine Jeffers, a forensics interview was conducted,” Darnell said, later adding, “And DCF was advised (for the children) not to have contact with the grandfather.”

DCF spokeswoman Alexis Lambert refused to comment on whether the recommendation was made, citing an ongoing investigation by her agency's Critical Incident Rapid Response Team, which was assembled to review how it handled cases involving the Spirit family.

Results from the inquiry should be available sometime this week, Lambert said.

The DCF Critical Incident Rapid Response Team was formed through policy adopted by the Legislature in the spring in the wake of a powerful Miami Herald special report revealing that at least 477 children who had reported prior contact with DCF later died.

The report also found that cutbacks in services and a push to keep families together actually placed children in harm's way.

The legislation, known in legislative chambers as the Child Welfare bill, was signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Rick Scott. His office, which oversees DCF, failed to respond to a Friday request for comment on the UF Child Protection Team's recommendation.

The 2013 Alachua County sheriff's report states that Sarah Spirit told Jeffers she had seen guns in Don Spirit's home and Jeffers told a deputy that Don Spirit suffered from a bipolar disorder.

Don Spirit was a convicted felon, and, although his civil rights had been restored by the state Office of Executive Clemency in 2008, he was not allowed to possess any firearms.

In a domestic violence case reported to the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office in September 2002, Don C. Spirit's son — who was a juvenile at the time — told deputies his father beat his mother, threatened to kill her and took a sledgehammer to her sport utility vehicle and the house telephone.

In 2006, deputies reported that Don C. Spirit beat his son because the boy loaned his own jacket to a friend.

In August 2008, a pregnant Sarah Spirit ran from the home in fear for her life after her father threw her against a refrigerator, deputies said. In a resulting application for a protective order, Sarah Spirit wrote that her father had a horrible temper.

“I am very scared of him,” Sarah Spirit wrote in the Gilchrist County Circuit Court document. “I know what he is capable of from past events with my mom.”

The Alachua County sheriff's report released on Tuesday provided more details into the circumstances that led up to a case that stunned Bell, a mostly agricultural town of roughly 350 residents.

The deputy reported that he was told by Kylie, Kaleb and Johnathon that Don C. Spirit beat them with a belt for playing inside his home, and Kylie showed him a bruise on her leg. But because Don Spirit lived outside Alachua County, the deputy relied on the DCF investigator to alert the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office. The deputy also noted in his report that he would contact Gilchrist authorities himself after he got a call from the DCF investigator to confirm forensics interviews with the UF Child Protection Team.

The phone call from DCF never came, and the Alachua County deputy learned through a follow-up in August 2014 that the case had been closed and deemed unfounded on June 24, 2013.

Gilchrist County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Manning had said one of his deputies assisted a DCF investigator in a visit to Don C. Spirit's home on June 21, 2013, but no report was written.

Darnell said a meeting on Friday with her command staff also led her to believe the deputy who assisted DCF properly performed his job. However, the case was an experience in which to learn, she said.

“Our procedures and practices are very good, but we can always improve,” she said.

A DCF summary provided on Sept. 22, 2014, stated the agency embarked on another inquiry into Sarah Spirit on Sept. 1 — about two weeks before the murder-suicide — after investigators heard an allegation that adults in Sarah Spirit's home were smoking a synthetic drug known as Spice.

Sarah Spirit had admitted to failing a drug test administered by a probation officer, which led to jail time. Following Sarah Spirit's release from jail, she and her six kids were kicked out of the home where they had lived and moved in with Don C. Spirit at the home at which they were fatally shot on Sept. 18.

PANAMA CITY BEACH - The eastbound outer lane of Thomas Drive between Hurt Street and Huff Street was closed late Monday due to flooding, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said.

BCSO is unsure how long the lane will be closed and advises eastbound drivers to use the inner lane.

PANAMA CITY — The fourth murder trial of the Fountain man accused of stabbing, shooting and bludgeoning his neighbor to death before robbing him has begun.

About 50 people were screened Monday in the seven-hour process to find 14 appropriate jurors for Philip Dean Brock’s fourth trial for the murder of 65-year-old Terry Brazil, his neighbor and friend. Brazil was found shot, stabbed and beaten on Dec. 27, 2012 inside his home, and duct tape was found around his wrists, indicating he had been tied up. His car, several guns, and sets of valuable collectible coins were later found in Brock’s possession.

Brock, 58, is looking at life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutor Larry Basford has tried to link DNA evidence, Brock’s possession of several items belonging to Brazil and Brock’s impoverished living conditions to establish a motive in Brazil’s murder. Several pieces of evidence are missing from the state’s case, though, such as eyewitnesses and most of the murder weapons. The gun and knife used in the killing were not found. But investigators did recover a bed post they believe was used to cause blunt force injuries to Brazil’s skull, and also had Brock’s fingerprints.

Basford asked if potential jurors could make the conclusion of guilt without those pieces.

“We don’t have an eyewitness to this crime,” Basford said. “It’s not like on TV where they have video surveillance. This happened in the privacy of (Brazil’s) home.”

Brock’s legal counsel has argued that the bedpost recovered from the woods near Brazil’s home had other unidentified people’s DNA on it. They have also provided evidence Brock and Brazil knew each other for years, and they often sold goods together at yard sales, which is why he had so much of Brazil’s property stored at his home in Southport.

They tried to filter out jurors who would make conclusions without those key pieces of evidence.

“They must provide evidence of such quality that it overwhelms all reasonable doubt,” said defense attorney Jennifer Fury. “That is what they must do.”

Jurors heard from three state witnesses of 30 that will testify during the course of the trial this week. So far three other juries have failed to convict Brock.

At his first trial in September, a jury deliberated more than six hours before being unable to reach a verdict. Judge Brantley Clark declared a mistrial, leading to the second trial. Jurors spent about eight hours in deliberation before a mistrial was declared at the end of his first retrial. Closing arguments lasted more than four hours at the conclusion of Brock’s third trial, but jurors could not reach a consensus.

PANAMA CITY — Two men have been arrested in connection with a school break-in, Panama City Police reported Monday.

Investigators with the Street Crimes Unit were alerted to suspicious activity at Jinks Middle School Monday at about 12:15 a.m., when they observed 18-year-old Aaron Demario Glenn walking back from the fence area between the cafeteria and the school gymnasium. Investigators contacted Glenn, who was pacing back and forth in front of the school. While talking to Glenn, police saw 29-year-old Carlos Eduardo Acosta inside the fence, near the cafeteria door. Both men were detained, PCPD said.

Police found a pry bar near the cafeteria door, where Acosta was first observed and noted pry marks on the door. A search of the school grounds was conducted and pry marks were noted on two portable buildings.

Acosta and Glenn were subsequently transported to the police department for questioning. Crime scene investigators collected and photographed evidence from the scene. Acosta was arrested and charged with attempted burglary and possession of burglary tools. Glenn was arrested and charged with principle to attempted burglary. Both were taken to the Bay County Jail.

SOUTHPORT — The untimely deaths of a Southport couple came at the end of a short-barrel shotgun in what appears to be a case of murder-suicide, authorities reported Monday.

Friends and family of the couple are now seeking community support for a family suddenly stricken with tragedy.

“We’re really trying to get help from anyone we can,” said Michael G. Cox, who discovered the bodies of his mother and boyfriend at the Southport home. “None of us have the money for a funeral.”

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office released preliminary findings Monday in the deaths of John Steve Bowen, 46, and Donna Maria Merendino, 44. Deputies were called to 1327 10th St. at about 7 p.m. Friday after Cox found the bodies. BCSO reported that preliminary autopsies corroborate BCSO Crime Scene Unit’s preliminary findings that Bowen killed Merendino with two shots from a short-barrel shotgun before turning the gun on himself.

Toxicology results are still pending, BCSO said.

Following the sudden tragedy, Cox said he and his siblings are trying to raise enough money to hold a service for Merendino. He has opened an account at Tyndall Federal Credit Union under the name Michael G. Cox and said the goal is to reach about $5,600.

Mindy Custer, a childhood friend of Merendino, said the incident came as a shock for all of Merendino’s friends and family members.

“She had the biggest heart,” Custer said. “She would have done anything in the world for anybody.”

An earlier version of this story is posted below.

SOUTHPORT — John Steve Bowen shot Donna Maria Merendino twice before turning the gun on himself, according to preliminary findings released by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

Autopsies were completed on Monday and a forensic analysis by the BCSO Crime Scene Unit corroborated the preliminary findings. Bowen, 46, killed Merendino, 44, with two shots from a short-barrel shotgun on Friday before killing himself, the BCSO reported. Toxicology reports are still pending.

Check back later for more on this story.

PANAMA CITY — A 43-year-old Panama City Beach man was arrested Monday on several felony charges after he allegedly forced his way inside a home while armed with a pistol and stole two wallets and a purse, according to the Panama City Police Department.

Theodore Lovett is charged with a half-dozen crimes as a result of an armed invasion of a home in the 3500 block of West 16th Street in Panama City Monday afternoon.

According to police:

A friend of the victim was showing the victim a vehicle he was trying to sell and brought Lovett along to the victim’s home. Lovett and the other man left, but after awhile there was a knock on the door. The victim opened the door, and a man in a ski mask with a handgun forced his way inside. The burglar stole a purse and two wallets and fled from the home on foot.

Police gathered information and tracked Lovett to a home in the 1300 block of Buena Vista Boulevard.

Lovett tried to run from police when he saw them coming. When police caught him, Lovett, a convicted felon, was holding a .380-caliber pistol, the victim’s wallet, multiple bags of meth and drug paraphernalia.

He was booked into the Bay County Jail on charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer without violence, carrying a concealed weapon and home invasion robbery.

PANAMA CITY — Friends of Philip Dean Brock said he had no desire to better his meager living conditions, though prosecutors spent much of Tuesday’s trial trying to establish the murder and robbery of his neighbor was motivated by greed.

Investigators have gradually found evidence since the December 2012 stabbing, shooting and bludgeoning death of 65-year-old Terry Brazil in his Fountain home. Brock, 58, was arrested at his nearby home in possession of guns and coins, thought to belong to Brazil. Brazil had been dead for several days by then.

Three juries over that time have not seen sufficient evidence to convict Brock of murder or the lesser charges of felony robbery or grand theft.

But Tuesday prosecutors introduced new evidence, gathered in July, during Brock’s fourth trial.

Officers found Brazil’s body Dec. 27, 2012. Other than a bedpost authorities suspect was used to bash Brazil’s head, the knife and gun were never found. Brock’s actions and items found in his possession led to his arrest, said prosecutor Larry Basford.

“The day after (Brazil’s) death, he had money to burn,” Basford said.

Crime scene investigator Mike Wesley, with Bay County Sheriff’s Office, showed jurors a blood trail leading from Brazil’s living room to the room where he either crawled or was drug at the time of his death. He demonstrated how the bedpost could have been used once within the room’s close quarters.

“I stood above where his head had been and swung from there,” Wesley said, brandishing the bedpost like a baseball bat. “I wanted to see if you could swing it without hitting a light fixture.”

Wesley said he was successful with left- and right-handed swings, but how the new evidence implicated Brock in the death of Brazil was left unclear Tuesday.

Prosecutors followed up by revealing DNA collected from Brazil’s back door partially belonged to Brock. The origins of two other DNA samples on the door were inconclusive, according to court documents.

Brock was known to regularly operate a yard sale at the corner of U.S. 231 and County 167, and several witnesses testified he usually claimed to be broke. He did not have running water, and he used solar panels to power LED lights and sparse electronics in his home.

“He was on food stamps,” said Susan Blankenship, a girlfriend of Brock’s for several months before he was arrested.

But despite Brock’s meager conditions, Blankenship said he chose that lifestyle. She also told jurors he made a large sale of a trailer months beforehand.

The day investigators suspect Brazil was killed, Brock gave a friend $200 to buy a pair of glasses, prosecutors said.

Brock’s attorneys have argued he and Brazil were close friends, sharing an interest in guns and collectible coins. When investigators found about $12,000 in silver coins in a pool filter on Brock’s property in October 2013, his counsel argued the scene had been left unsecured to anyone who wanted to enter.

Several guns also were found on Brock’s property but only one had been used — a .380 caliber handgun. Likewise, the bullet collected from Brazil’s body was a .380 caliber, but test rounds from Brock’s gun did not match.

If Brock is convicted, he faces life in prison. His trial is expected to continue until Friday.

PANAMA CITY — The main building of the Bay County Courthouse will be closed Oct. 10 - 12, but any courthouse business scheduled on those days will not be interrupted, officials announced Wednesday.

With the upcoming construction for the Bay County Courthouse Extension Project, Gulf Power is going to relocate a transformer. Since the courthouse will be running on a generator, the main courthouse will not be open. However, all court operations and services will be open and functioning.

“This is just one of those necessary issues that arose in the construction process and you just have to be prepared to work around them. Yates Construction has been meeting with us and working with us to make this as smooth as possible” said Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul. “The judges and all court personnel understand we need to be fully operational, yet flexible when things like this arise. We will be fully operational, just in these various locations. With e-filing and the ability to pay citations, fees, child support online, the use of technology will really benefit customers on days like this.”

The Juvenile Courthouse located at 533 East 11^th St. will be used as well as the courthouse annex and the board finance office. Directional signs will be made to direct customers and staff will be on-site to answer questions and direct customers to court locations.

PANAMA CITY — As he has done in previous attempts to prove Brock’s guilt, prosecutor Larry Basford is portraying Philip Dean Brock as a severely impoverished man who killed Terry Brazil in his Fountain home in December 2012.

Brock has been in jail since his arrest several days after police found Brazil’s body. He was beaten, cut and shot, and several of his personal affects, including guns and valuable coins, were discovered at Brock’s home.

Brock is charged with murder, and has faced a jury three times already; each time the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict and Judge Brantley Clark declared them all mistrials.

Nancy Wisneski told the jury she sold things for Brock on eBay, but he never asked her to sell any guns, valuable coins or precious metals, with the exception of some “scrap silver” that she returned to him without attempting to sell.

Wisneski described Brock as needy. He never talked about his finances with her, but he lived as though he was poor, she said in response to questions from Basford.

Brock seemed not to mind living the way he did, though, Wisneski told defense attorney Kim Jewell, who has in previous trials highlighted the weaknesses of the physical and circumstantial evidence. Brock testified in his first trial

Angela Sheridan, a friend of Brazil, stopped by to see him around Thanksgiving to see if Brazil had any shotgun shells. She said she bought approximately 10 guns from Brazil during their friendship, and she was also aware of Brazil’s interest in collectable coins.

PANAMA CITY BEACH - The Bay County Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations of local first responders for awards in the categories of Line of Duty, Community and Multidisciplinary.

Nominations should include the first responder’s name and department. The deadline to submit nominations is Oct. 6.

The awards will be presented during the First Responder Appreciation Luncheon at Bay Point Wyndham Resort on Oct. 23. Tables and tickets are available for reservation.

For more information, call 850-785-5206 or visit PanamaCity.org.

CHIPLEY - Construction will begin the week of October 6 along 3 miles of U.S. 90 in Washington County.

Improvements consist of milling and resurfacing from St. Mary’s Road to the Holmes County line.  Drivers can expect intermittent lane restrictions during construction.

PANAMA CITY — The $12,000 in silver coins found on Philip Dean Brock’s property was only a fraction of the riches prosecutors claimed he collected after his neighbor’s murder and robbery, jurors heard during Wednesday’s trial.

But defense attorneys said the missing coins show evidence on the scene was tainted.

Prosecutors entered their second full day of calling witnesses in the murder case of Terry Brazil, 65, during Wednesday’s trial. Brazil was found Dec. 27, 2012 stabbed, shot and beaten after apparently being bound with duct tape in his Fountain home. Since that time, three juries have failed to convict 58-year-old Brock, Brazil’s friend and neighbor, with his murder.

Prosecutor Larry Basford continued arguing his case that Brock was motivated to kill and rob Brazil by greed. He presented jurors with a jailhouse phone call in which Brock admitted to not only possessing $12,000 in silver coins — suspected to be Brazil’s — but also having much more hidden in a pool filter on his property.

“The bolt holding it shut was gone and now some bread tie was on it,” Brock said in the phone conversation. “So somebody’s been in it and two-thirds are missing.”

Sgt. Mark Bailey, Bay County Sheriff’s Office’s case agent on the murder, said the amount of silver coins stolen from the multitudes of empty coin casings in Brazil’s home was difficult to determine. But when they found his body, which had been decaying for about two weeks, BCSO began with a search of his land-line phone records.

Victim’s last conversation

From those records, the last person to speak with Brazil was Andrew Hendricks, another Fountain neighbor, for 176 minutes on Dec. 11.

“We always talked about lawnmowers, cars and guns,” Hendricks testified. “And if anyone wasn’t listening to us, we’d drop some words on them.”

The next day, Hendricks couldn’t get Brazil on the phone. That’s when he noticed Brazil’s gold Cadillac was missing, he told officers when the murder investigation began.

Brazil sold guns out of his home, so BCSO had several suspects in his death.

“We had so many leads to follow up at that point,” Bailey said. “Anyone who had contact with Brazil was a suspect.”

After BCSO announced they were seeking the car, Brock called them and said he had the Cadillac, according to Bailey’s testimony. Many of Brock’s friends who previously testified he had no want for riches were suspected in Brazil’s murder at one point. But a video from the U.S. 231 Piggly Wiggly in Fountain of Brock driving the Cadillac, moments after authorities suspected Brazil was murdered, narrowed their list of suspects.

Brock was arrested after BCSO found guns and commemorative coins in his home that once belonged to Brazil.

Brock frequently exchanged glares with Bailey as he explained how BCSO came to discover the silver coins in a pool filter at Brock’s home after two mistrials, about 10 months later. When Bailey testified that a joke about throwing the pool filter out unless it contained the missing silver led to Brock’s son lifting the lid with ease, Brock shook his head in disapproval.

The defense has highlighted the lack of evidence presented by BCSO and the prosecution. Many of the murder weapons were never recovered. A bed post, believed to be used to bludgeon Brazil, and duct tape was found in the woods across from his home two weeks after investigators suspect Brazil was murdered.

Several of his personal effects also were never located, including his wallet and cellphone. Brock’s counsel also argued Wednesday that since BCSO never recovered Brazil’s cellphone records, their determination of when Brazil died or who he last spoke with could be flawed.

Brock faces life in prison if convicted. His trial is expected to continue through Friday.

SPRINGFIELD — One of two men has been arrested after an armed burglary in which the assailants held the homeowner at gunpoint to lure a third party to the scene, according to arrest records.

Terrance Devon Goodman, 38, was arrested Tuesday in connection with an armed home invasion and has provided Bay County Sheriff’s Office with an alibi. Goodman said he was at a drug house, a short distance away from the victim’s home, “smoking” at the time but couldn’t provide officers with anyone to corroborate his alibi, investigators reported.

Goodman allegedly broke into a Leslie Lane home Monday sometime before 8 p.m. BCSO arrest records said he and another man, who is only a suspect at this point, waited for the home’s occupant and confronted her at about 8 p.m., pointing a Glock in her face.

According to BCSO records:

The intruders began making demands at gunpoint to contact a particular person and have them come to the residence. The home was occupied by intruders until about 11 p.m. when the victim attempted to flee. The intruders attempted to subdue the victim but were unsuccessful. The two themselves then fled, firing three rounds from one or both guns possessed by the intruders, BCSO reported.

Police found a Glock in a neighboring yard that had been reported stolen. A cellphone was found inside the home, supposedly belonging to Goodman, which was opened to the other suspect’s Facebook page, investigators reported.

Goodman was arrested Tuesday and charged with armed burglary.

PANAMA CITY — One of three Panama City men has been arrested for shooting into a crowd and grazing two separate people including a 16-year-old girl, according to court documents.

Michael Vernon Porter, 18, appeared in court Wednesday after his arrest for allegedly shooting into a crowd of people on Kurze Avenue on Sept. 21. He was booked into Bay County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in public Tuesday, but circumstances of the arrest were left unclear.

Panama City Police Department declined to comment on the matter as of Wednesday evening.

Damarius Mimms, 19, and Jakorey Shivers, 19, are listed as co-defendants on Porter’s arrest affidavit but whether they have been charged in the shooting was also unclear. Bay County Clerk of Court records indicated neither of two men has pending felonies.

According to Porter’s arrest affidavit, he and the two other men were armed in the 10th Street and Kurze Avenue area on Sept. 21 when they began shooting at citizens in the roadway. A bullet grazed a 16-year-old girl’s hand and an adult man’s leg. Once the three men began shooting, the crowd fled in terror, police reported.

What incited the shooting was unclear Wednesday.

SPRINGFIELD — One of two men has been arrested after an armed burglary in which the assailants held the homeowner at gunpoint to lure a third party to the scene, according to arrest records.

Terrance Devon Goodman, 38, was arrested Tuesday in connection with an armed home invasion and has provided Bay County Sheriff’s Office with an alibi. Goodman said he was at a drug house, a short distance away from the victim’s home, “smoking” at the time but couldn’t provide officers with anyone to corroborate his alibi, investigators reported.

Goodman allegedly broke into a Leslie Lane home Monday sometime before 8 p.m. BCSO arrest records said he and another man, who is only a suspect at this point, waited for the home’s occupant and confronted her at about 8 p.m., pointing a Glock in her face.

According to BCSO records:

The intruders began making demands at gunpoint to contact a particular person and have them come to the residence. The home was occupied by intruders until about 11 p.m. when the victim attempted to flee. The intruders attempted to subdue the victim but were unsuccessful. The two themselves then fled, firing three rounds from one or both guns possessed by the intruders, BCSO reported.

Police found a Glock in a neighboring yard that had been reported stolen. A cellphone was found inside the home, supposedly belonging to Goodman, which was opened to the other suspect’s Facebook page, investigators reported.

Goodman was arrested Tuesday and charged with armed burglary. 

TALLAHASSEE (AP) — The comptroller of the athletic booster club at Florida State University is accused of "misappropriating" between $500,000 and $700,000.

Sanford Lovingood turned himself in to the Leon County Sherriff's Office on Wednesday and is charged with first-degree grand theft of over $100,000. He remained in the Leon County Jail on Thursday morning.

Seminole Booster Chief Executive Officer and President Andy Miller said in a news release issued jointly by the club and Florida State University that 65-year-old Lovingood was terminated immediately by the booster club. A forensic audit is underway to determine how much money is missing and how it was taken.

The club provides financial support to FSU's athletic program.

Jail records did not indicate whether Lovingood has retained a lawyer.

TALLAHASSEE (AP) — A Florida police officer has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal affairs investigation after he fired a stun gun into a 61-year-old woman's back during an arrest in a Tallahassee neighborhood.

Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo called a news conference early Wednesday morning to announce the investigation after authorities obtained a video capturing the Tuesday afternoon incident that was shot by someone on a nearby porch.

“Based on the video, I have enough concerns to call for an internal investigation,” DeLeo said. “We will conduct a thorough investigation into this incident. We want to be transparent with the community by sharing what we can at this point, including the video.”

--- VIDEO ---

According to police, the officers were responding to recent complaints from citizens about drug deals in the neighborhood located just a few blocks west of the governor's mansion. The woman, Viola Young, approached one of the police cars parked on the narrow street to inquire about one of the people — two women and a man — who had been arrested.

The officer standing outside the squad car advised the woman to stay back. Police said that's when Officer Terry Mahan approached Young and attempted to take her into custody.

In the video, Young appears to be walking away when the officer uses his stun gun, striking her in the back. She falls face-first to the ground. Officers surrounded her and eventually helped her to her feet and walked her to a squad car, the video shows. Police didn't release the name of the person who shot the video, but he can be heard saying on the video: “done tased a lady for nothing.”

Police said Young was medically cleared by paramedics and taken to the Leon County Jail.

She was charged with resisting and obstructing an officer without violence, a first-degree misdemeanor.

In his police report, Mahan said that after he told people to stay back she “responded by yelling, ‘I just want to know what is going on.’” Mahan said Young refused to leave and he told her she was under arrest. He said she yanked away from him when he attempted to grab her arm.

When reached by phone on Wednesday, Young said she has been advised by her attorney to not discuss the incident.

The incident comes at a time when Tallahassee police have come under scrutiny. Last month, the city agreed to pay $475,000 to settle a case over the arrest of a woman who ended up with a broken bone in her face after an altercation with officers.

Video from last year's arrest of Christina West showed officers slamming her into a police car before throwing her to the ground. West can be heard screaming in the video. A grand jury decided against charging the officers in that incident but ripped Tallahassee police for how they handled the arrest.

The Blotter is a look at some of the unusual things that happen on the crime beat in Bay County.

It’s not always easy getting children off to school. A little call to the police never hurts, either.

An officer made his way to a residence to check on a possible disturbance. A man recently gained custody of his younger brother, who was refusing to go to school. It seems the young man didn’t like the new set of rules and he was never “forced to go to school” under his previous living arrangement.

The two began to argue over the rebellious youngster. The officer made his way to the residence and the young man was getting ready to go to school before his arrival after reason seemingly took hold. The young man said he would head off to school without further incident.

There was no word on if authorities needed to be called for lack of eating vegetables at dinner time later that night, however.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two men are in Bay County Jail following a spree of vehicle burglaries that had been occurring in and around Panama City Beach.

Investigators determined Justin Seaborn, 26, of Panama City, and Jesse Barfield, 25, of Troy, Ala., had targeted pricey Yeti coolers, among other items.

Panama City Beach Police announced that a joint investigation with Bay County Sheriff’s Office led investigators to Seaborn and Barfield. The pair was charged after making incriminating statements to investigators, a press release said.

Police recovered numerous Yeti coolers worth about $2,500, two bicycles valued at $3,500, diving equipment, fishing equipment, hand tools and power tools.

Seaborn was charged with four counts of burglary and six counts of grand theft. Barfield was charged with one count of burglary and one count of grand theft. Police said more charges are expected.

PANAMA CITY — Two additional Panama City teenagers have been arrested for shooting into a crowd and grazing a 16-year-old girl, according to court documents.

Damarius Mimms, 19, and Jakorey Shivers, 19, were the most recent suspects booked into Bay County Jail Thursday after allegedly shooting into a crowd of people on Kurze Avenue on Sept. 21. The two men and Michael Vernon Porter, 18, have been charged with aggravated assault and discharging a firearm in public.

--- FIRST CHARGED TUESDAY ---

According to their arrest affidavits, Mimms, Porter and Shivers were armed in the 10th Street and Kurze Avenue area on Sept. 21 when they began shooting at citizens in the roadway. A bullet grazed a 16-year-old girl’s hand and an adult man’s leg. Once the three men began shooting, the crowd fled in terror, police reported.

Panama City Police officials were not available Thursday to comment on the shooting. What instigated the shooting was unclear.