Deputies infiltrate family funeral in Lauderdale, arrest wrong man

[Judi Lynn]

Deputies infiltrate family funeral in Lauderdale, arrest wrong man

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer
Posted February 23 2005

After losing their family matriarch on Valentine's Day, the grief-stricken husband, children and grandchildren of Brenda Yvonne Lightbourn gathered Saturday to bid her farewell.

Little did they know that undercover Broward Sheriff's Office deputies had infiltrated the funeral, and would later show up at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Fort Lauderdale with guns drawn and a helicopter hovering over the gravesite to arrest Lightbourn's grandson, Donovan, in a case of mistaken identity.

"Just out of respect they should've done it in a different manner," said Lightbourn's husband, Franklyn, who is visiting from the Turks and Caicos Islands. "If you're looking for a suspect, you don't come armed and with guns as if you're trying to kill somebody."

Donovan Lightbourn, 20, is a former Navy seaman who says he received a medical discharge in May for kidney stones. He now lives in Orlando, and arrived in South Florida on Friday for the funeral, he said. On Friday night, Lightbourn saw a uniformed police officer hanging out at the bus station when he stepped off the Greyhound bus in Miami. Later he saw a police car near his parents' home in Miami.
(snip/...)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cfuneral23feb23,0,7605985.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

[bluestateguy]

1. A lot of people need to get fired over this

Graf said the deputies were just doing their job.

Now, THEY are little Eichmans.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

12. Agreed

I highly doubt a funeral is the time to pick someone up anyway. This goes hand in hand with the woman being told her husband died in iraq and then it was 'fake soldiers' who told her. I think bush is just playing mind games with people.

[MSgt213]

2. Well, you know all black people look a like and know each other

anyway.

[Monkie]

4. and we all know he was probably guilty of something else

and anyways,its best to act preemptively,at the very least someone at the funeral was THINKING of committing a crime...

[SouthernDem2004]

3. Read the entire article:

"Graf denied deputies were at the Greyhound station and the family's house. But he said veteran law enforcement officers with the department's fugitive squad conducted surveillance at the family's funeral services Friday night and Saturday morning, then waited for a moment when Donovan Lightbourn was alone at the cemetery to apprehend him. He said they had had a warrant for Kareem Lightbourne's arrest since Dec. 22, 200."

They were after all looking for a murder suspect.

[pokercat999]

5. They were after all looking for a murder suspect

What? This is an excuse? What if they shot him, "that's ok they were looking for a murder suspect". SUSPECT let me repeat SUSPECT not a convicted and escaped felon?

Lazy cops, let em go back to busting kids with pot, much easier, safer work. Better yet pay em to stay home and masturbate.

[SouthernDem2004]

8. Did you have a point?

They did not shoot anyone. They waited until he was alone and then detained him. They quickly determined he was not who they were looking for so they let him go.

The last line of your message speaks for itself.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

13. The point is

He was innocent, yes? That speaks in for itself it was wrong to humiliate someone at a funeral. Having someone you know die is a tragic and terrible event, it makes some feel suicidal for a few days, months, years. Is that the message we want to send to our american families, "it's okay if you suffer so long as we get to fly in with helicopters and feel all superior to you"?

"When law enforcement undermines the safety and the freedom of the american people, it is no longer doing its job".

[Judi Lynn]

11. You're right, by far.They owe their work their complete attention.

It's their obligation to have a sense of respect for the people they serve, or let someone else do it.

From the article:

Family members and witnesses said they had just buried Brenda Lightbourn, 65, and the Florida Sunshine Band was finishing its final number, when at least 10 deputies stormed the gravesite, grabbed Donovan, slammed him against a car and handcuffed him.

Donovan Lightbourn said he screamed for his father, Donald. When Donald Lightbourn and some of Donovan Lightbourn's uncles tried to intervene, the deputies pulled out their guns, and told them to stand back, family members said. They said one of the deputies threatened Donovan with a Taser.

Graf said some investigators had their weapons drawn, but they didn't point them at anyone, and one deputy had a Taser that he kept to his side.

The family and a cemetery employee said there was a helicopter overhead.

Donovan Lightbourn said the deputies put him in a car and talked as if they had caught the right guy. When Lightbourn saw the photo, he pointed out that he was a different person. When they realized the mistake, he quoted them as saying, "It's not you, but you do know him." Then they released him.
(snip)

If they aren't up to the job, they need to step aside. Life is truly too serious to do it half-A'd.

[underpants]

6. Photos of the two men

Kareem Jobbar Lightbourne (From browardcrimestoppers.com)



Donovan Lightbourne (US Navy vet who recieved medical discharge in May for kidneystones)


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0222cfuneral,0,278660.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

[TahitiNut]

7. Wel, hell ... they could be twins.

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[fortyfeetunder]

9. CORRECTION -

Donovan's last name is Lightbourn, not Lightbourne.

[yinkaafrica]

15. They have different last names!

How is it possible to confuse two men
with different last names?

[fortyfeetunder]

16. Sarcasm on, please

They are both black, so how their last name was spelled was inconsequential

Cops probably figured the variation, albeit one letter difference, was enough to identify a suspect.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Well, you know how things work in Florida

If you have a name that's even similar to a suspected felon's, watch out! Even if they don't arrest you, they can still take away your voting rights, and make you a persona non grata at election time

[Vladimir]

10. The suspect is a black male, I repeat... n/t

[Kimber Scott]

14. If this was a white family's funeral you can be assured they would have

waited until it was over to arrest anybody, be he the right person, or not.

[fortyfeetunder]

17. So the cops had SEVERAL opportunities to apprehend

but they decided to wait and apprehend him at his grandmother's funeral?

Sorry this is inexcusable conduct.