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Raccoon rescued from engine compartment

Raccoon rescued from engine compartment

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News, Featured.

BRADENTON BEACH – Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center Inc. and local veterinarian Dr. Bill Bystrom helped rescue a raccoon that became trapped in an automobile’s engine compartment.

According to a press release issued by Wildlife Inc., a call came into the Bradenton Beach-based agency on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 13. The caller said there was a raccoon on the third floor of the BridgeWalk Resort in Bradenton Beach. A Wildlife Inc. volunteer arrived at the resort within minutes and determined it was a fully grown raccoon weighing at least 25 pounds. The raccoon appeared to have a limp but otherwise seemed healthy.

As the rescue attempt ensued, the raccoon squeezed between a crate and the wall through a narrow gap in the stairway rail. According to the press release, the raccoon scurried down the stairs to the ground floor confused, scared and potentially injured. The resort staff was concerned for the safety of its guests and attempted to help corral the raccoon. After making it to the ground floor, the raccoon darted under some parked cars. The resort staff and the Wildlife Inc. volunteer went car to car in an attempt to capture and cage the frightened animal. Those efforts proved unsuccessful and the crafty raccoon found what it thought to be an escape route. The raccoon wrangled its way up into the engine area of a 2013 Nissan Sentra.

Raquel Rangel, Celeste Maldonado and Misha Maldonado were among those who attempted to find the car’s owner. Once located, the car owners expressed genuine concern for the safety of the raccoon, as well as for other motorists. The car owners were concerned about driving to their home an hour north with the raccoon still trapped under the hood of the vehicle. They were also concerned the raccoon might escape in the middle of an intersection or roadway and cause harm to itself and possibly cause an accident.

After several hours of trying to coax the raccoon out of its hiding place using humane means, which included starting the car and gently moving it, using a hose to squirt the raccoon with water and turning on the car alarm to hopefully trigger a flee response, the raccoon was still stuck in the engine compartment and had no way to go forward or turn around and leave the way it came.

Raccoon rescued from engine compartment
Dr. Bill Bystrom assisted with the raccoon rescue. – Wildlife Inc. | Submitted

According to the press release, Wildlife Inc. President Gail Straight contacted Dr. Bill Bystrom at Island Animal Clinic for help. Upon arrival, Dr. Bystrom administered a small sedative to the raccoon to help it relax. This allowed Straight to safely remove the raccoon from the engine compartment. After being safely removed, the raccoon was taken to the Wildlife Inc. facility for a thorough examination and any needed rehabilitation.

“Wildlife Inc. would like to personally thank the Bridge Street Hotel, its staff, the owner of the Nissan Sentra, Raquel Rangel and Dr. Bill Bystrom of Island Animal Clinic for all their help and understanding in the safe rescuing of this raccoon,” the press release notes.

An email received from Wildlife Inc. on Sunday stated the raccoon was not injured, is doing fine and would soon be released in a suitable natural setting in east Manatee County.

BridgeWalk resort enforcing reserved parking spaces

BridgeWalk resort enforcing reserved parking spaces

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Drivers should pay close attention to the signs when parking in front of the BridgeWalk resort in Bradenton Beach.

BridgeWalk resort owner Angela Rodocker has received additional assurances from the city regarding her exclusive use of three Bridge Street parking spaces. On Thursday, Jan. 21, the Bradenton Beach City Commission adopted Resolution 21-940, a resolution that codifies in writing the verbal agreement Rodocker and her late mother, Barbara Rodocker, reached with the city regarding the development of the BridgeWalk resort and retail shops in 2000.

The three parking spaces along the 100 block of Bridge Street have long been designated for the exclusive use of BridgeWalk resort guests while checking in, but that exclusive use is often ignored by others in search of a hard-to-find parking space, especially on weekends.

The adopted city resolution now supports and further clarifies the development approvals granted in 2000.

When presenting the resolution to the city commission, City Attorney Ricinda Perry said, “That parking agreement is not a new approval. That was a use that was already granted and approved verbally but missed somehow – we could arguably state it was scrivener’s error – in the final approval prepared by the attorney at that time.”

When addressing the commission, Rodocker said, “The reason this even came up is because I kept having to deal with people parking there. From the very beginning of this, I always believed that BridgeWalk had exclusivity over those three spots, and that’s what I think should be honored.”

Rodocker said some drivers in the community have the wrong impression about the public’s use of the reserved parking spaces along Bridge Street. She said she recently had to call the police in response to a verbal confrontation that ensued with a man who questioned the BridgeWalk parking restrictions.

“My staff has had to deal with this on and off for years, so I want my signage to be strong and I will fulfill it – which means it’s going to be uncomfortable for some local people for a little while,” Rodocker told the commission.

“There’s been way too many verbal things going on between my staff and people. There’s just so much miscommunication, even for the police department. The guys don’t even know what to do if somebody’s parking there and I call. We just need clarification,” Rodocker said.

Rodocker offered to make the three reserved check-in spaces available to the public during non-peak hours, similar to the after-hours parking allowances provided at the post office parking lot.

Police Chief Sam Speciale said it would be easier for his officers to enforce a parking prohibition that remains in effect at all times, so the BridgeWalk resort parking restrictions will be in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“That way there’s no question about what those three places are for. That way Angela doesn’t have to deal with people and it’s easier for us to take care of it,” Speciale told the commission.

The commission unanimously supported the resolution request and the resort’s need for the three reserved parking spaces.

Three parking spaces along the 100 block of Bridge Start are reserved BridgeWalk resort guests who are checking in.
These signs help designate the BridgeWalk resort’s reserved parking spaces.- Angela Rodocker | Submitted

Those who continue to improperly park in the reserved spaces now do so at the increased risk of being ticketed and possibly towed. When contacted later, Rodocker said she’ll soon be adding new signs that reinforce the existing signs that say, “Check-in Parking Only Please.”

“I’m so happy that we’re going to get this resolved. The last thing I want to do is have somebody’s car towed away, but we may have to do it to get the message across,” Rodocker said.

New evidence in Morris case may point to murder

New evidence in Morris case may point to murder

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Beach Beat, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – More than 10 years after Sheena Morris’ death was determined to be a suicide, her mother says she has new evidence that her daughter was murdered.

Morris was found dead by police, hanging in a shower by her dog’s leash in room 525 of the BridgeWalk Resort on New Year’s Day 2009 after staff reported hearing dogs barking inside. Bradenton Beach police determined that her death was a suicide.

But Kelly Osborn has never given up the fight to prove her belief that her daughter was murdered at age 22 by her then-fiancé, 45-year-old Joseph Genoese, after an argument that prompted a call to Bradenton Beach police. Two officers spoke to Morris shortly after 1 a.m., after Genoese had left, according to Bradenton Beach Police Department (BBPD) records. Later that day, around 2 p.m., BBPD responded again, this time to assist staff with an eviction due to the barking dogs. Instead, they and discovered Morris’ body. Genoese was not charged. Bradenton Beach police did not return calls Monday.

After asking the BBPD, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to revisit the case, the official manner of death remained “suicide.” Osborn said the FDLE investigation unfairly focused on her daughter’s character, publishing information such as her previous employment as an exotic dancer, and concluding there was no evidence of a homicide.

Osborn staged a “March for Justice” in Pinellas County, where she lives, criticizing law enforcement for their conclusions.

She took the case to the Dr. Phil show, where Genoese failed a lie detector test on national television.

Joseph Genoese and Sheena Morris
Joseph Genoese and Sheena Morris – Submitted

Now she’s taking new evidence to the press.

Osborne hired Pensacola-based private investigator Jan Johnson, of Forensic Pieces, a certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst who spent her career with the FBI, FDLE and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, according to the company’s website.

Johnson asked Osborn to look at photos from the scene again last year.

“I didn’t want to go there again,” Osborn said. So Johnson narrowed it down to one photo, taken at the scene, showing marks in a geometric pattern on Sheena’s lower back that she says match the wicker pattern in a chair pictured in the hotel room.

New evidence in Morris case may point to murder
The wicker hotel chair pattern compared to marks on Sheena Morris’ lower back, in a photo taken after her death. – Jan Johnson | Submitted

“I looked at it and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. Now I know.’ But I‘ve known all along,” Osborn said.

When the hotel redecorated, Osborn said she was able to obtain one of the chairs so that investigators could take measurements and better compare them to the photo of the marks on her daughter’s back.

What they found, according to Johnson, is that Morris must have been seated in the wicker chair after her death, indicating that she was moved to the shower and hung by someone else.

Forensic Pieces investigators say that the marks were caused by a process called “lividity,” in which blood pools in the body after the heart stops pumping at death. The marks were not detected in the autopsy because Morris’ body was moved to a horizontal position on a gurney before the lividity became fixed, or permanent, according to investigators.

The marks show that the hanging was staged, according to Forensic Pieces, which has used the case to teach law enforcement investigators about how murders can be staged as suicides.

“We’re trying to get them to take a second look at the new evidence,” Johnson said. “We would like somebody to reopen the case. FDLE has a lab; they could submit this to their lab.”

Meanwhile, Osborn, who lives about six miles from the man she suspects of murdering her daughter, is not planning any more marches for justice.

“I know that my daughter was murdered. I could only hope that justice could be served. But right now, sometimes there’s justice, and sometimes there’s just us.”