On Sept. 26, video appears to show pro-police counterprotester Lawrence Arnold Davis shoving protester Kimberley Cox to the ground and injuring her before chambering his gun and pointing it at a crowd in downtown St. Petersburg. After the police declined to pursue charges, the law office of Fernandez and Bardine sought charges through the State Attorney’s office.
On Oct. 22, Cox and their legal team met with Assistant State Attorney Anthony Carlow to discuss the incident, and claim Carlow acted in a combative manner.
“Carlow was very aggressive, abrasive and curt,” Cox told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “When I got to the part about the injury to my tailbone, he was red in the face, kept interrupting me and raising his voice.”
Cox’s lawyer Megan Fernandez, a former assistant state attorney, says that when she tried to speak up for Cox, the situation escalated and Carlow ended the meeting.
“She is a victim of a crime, and he treated her more like he was interrogating a defendant,” Fernandez said. “By the time he ended it, he was visibly shaking with anger.”
Johnny Bardine, who is also representing Cox, said that being interviewed takes a lot of courage on the victim’s behalf, and that the way Carlow behaved was “completely inappropriate.”
In their statement, Fernandez and Bardine wrote that during the meeting, Carlow “proceeded to aggressively bully counsel in an attempt to intimidate and assert control and power over counsel.” They claim that after the interview was ended, Carlow continued to “harass counsel as well as Ms.Cox down a narrow and enclosed hallway.”
Cox’s legal team added that Carlow’s behavior was intended to “stop this case in its tracks,” but that it didn’t work. They requested immediate audience with State Attorney Bernie McCabe. Instead, they were directed to Assistant State Attorney Elizabeth Constantine, who they say acted professional. During the meeting, they claim that Constantine called Davis “the defendant,” but said that the state attorney’s office confirmed that it has not made a decision on whether or not to file charges against Davis.
In their statement, Fernandez and Bardine request that Carlow be removed from any legal involvement in regards to Cox’s case.
CL made multiple calls to the Pinellas County State Attorney’s office to speak with Carlow or State Attorney Bernie McCabe. The employees who answered CL’s calls said that McCabe was unavailable and Carlow was on vacation, so attorney Bruce Bartlett responded in their stead. He was not in the room that day and did not witness the meeting, but claims that Fernandez, Bardine and Cox showed up and began bullying Carlow.
“They’re trying to get something done by causing a political stir with the public, or whoever it would be that would read the thing, with what I consider to be fake news. If there’s a crime, there’s a crime, we’ll file a charge.” Bartlett said. “If we find factually we can’t support a crime, then we won’t file charges, it’s as simple as that. But it’s not going to be based on what their [Cox’s] lawyers tell me. It’s kind of like if I barged into your office at Creative Loafing and started telling you, ‘this is what’s going to be done.’”
When asked if he had a statement about the video showing what happened on the evening that Cox was injured, Bartlett said he did not, because he had not watched it, but added, “We dispute their version of the way this thing transpired.” In regards to Carlow’s integrity, Bartlett said that Carlow is an experienced lawyer, who was involved in law enforcement before pursuing law.
Davis, the armed counterprotester, has a history of threatening posts made towards social justice protesters. A screenshot from June 20, shared by St. Pete Peace Protest shows that Davis publicly posted a link to an article titled, “Man defends himself against rioters who attacked him with knives/skateboard.” The freeze frame of the video shows a man pointing a gun at people. About the video, Davis wrote, “I would have done the same these little pussys are only tough in mob mode.”
Davis also shared a video of protesters being run over, as well as a meme about burning down protesters homes. His cover photo shows a pickup truck with a Trump 2020 and a Blue Lives Matter flag attached to the back.
Cox, Fernandez and Bardine all point out that on the evening of the incident, Davis and multiple other Back The Blue protesters were recorded following, harassing and abusing the Black Lives Matter protesters for most of the march. The counterprotesters and St. Pete police claimed that BLM protesters were armed with knives at the time of the altercation that took place, but a slowed down video refutes that claim and shows that what were claimed to be weapons were actually a belt and a bandana.
The violent night occurred the day after Gov. Ron Desantis called St. Petersburg protesters “mobs harassing innocent people,” in regards to a confrontation with a couple who protesters claimed hurled racial and religious epithets at them as the protest went by. The protesters’ side of the story was not included in most stories about the incident.
Cox and her lawyers say that a refusal to pursue charges against the person who assaulted Cox and pointed his gun at protesters could set a dangerous precedent and lead to more violence.
“It emboldens that entire group to commit these types of actions in the future, and it will get worse,” Fernandez said. “That’s the fear.”
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This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2020.