Plantation’s war on Christmas Suit: ‘It was only a BB gun’

Mom sues sheriff, deputy in son’s death

You can’t fight City Hall, the saying goes, but can City Hall fight you? Apparently so, as evidenced by Plantation’s ongoing lawsuit against residents Mark and Kathy Hyatt and their self-dubbed “Extreme Christmas” display.

Depending on your viewpoint, the Hyatts’ annual holiday display is either a wondrous spectacle designed to delight children of all ages, or an outlandish, over-the-top nuisance and a threat to public safety.

The city falls into the “hates it” category. Especially since the Hyatts balked at paying costs for police to handle crowds and traffic near their small cul-de-sac in the Plantation Acres neighborhood. So the city launched a War on the Hyatts’ Extreme Christmas that seems wasteful, misguided and chilling.

In February 2014, the city filed a “nuisance abatement” lawsuit against the Hyatts to halt the display, which attracts spectators from across South Florida.

As of April, the city has spent $60,648 on the case, according to public records, and we haven’t even gotten to depositions or a trial yet. In addition, the city dramatically hiked its overtime spending on police near the display last year, from $5,194 in 2013 to $31,310 in 2014, according to public records.

I don’t know how much the Hyatts have rung up in legal fees; I left messages for them and their lawyer, but didn’t hear back. The Hyatts have made an offer to scale back the display to settle the suit, but the city has rejected it.

It’s common for citizens to sue government or other citizens, but it’s a little odd and disturbing when cities sue their own taxpayers. Especially since cities have the power to make laws, enforce regulations and impose fines.

Here’s the truly galling part: In its lawsuit, the city takes issue with the “size and nature” of the Hyatt display, but the city has no laws regulating holiday displays.

Before filing suit, shouldn’t the city council first put some rules in place? I asked Mayor Diane Bendekovic why the city hasn’t attempted to spell out what’s “acceptable” or “compatible” through ordinances, or how somebody is supposed to conform to regulations if there are no regulations. She declined comment, citing the pending litigation.

By going the lawsuit route, Plantation has turned a War on Christmas into much more. This is an attack on freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly.

Gene Marchese, president of the Plantation Acres Homeowners Association, calls the city’s response “overzealous.”

He said members in the 1,200-home association are split 50-50 on the issue, but he’s sympathetic to the Hyatts because “the city is targeting them and treating them unfairly.” Earlier this year, a Plantation special magistrate imposed a $7,000 fine on the Hyatts for a building code violation, not having a permit for a shed.

Marchese said the “shed” was not a permanent structure, but part of the holiday display; a Santa’s Workshop

Were earbuds the reason an Oakland Park man carrying an unloaded air rifle didn’t obey deputies’ orders before he was shot and killed? Were the earbuds placed in his pocket as part of a cover-up of alleged police misconduct?

Those are

among

the

allega- tions in a federal lawsuit by Jennifer Young against Broward Sheriff Scott Israel and Deputy Peter Peraza over the deadly force used on July 31, 2013, against her son, Jermaine McBean.

McBean, 33, was a computer systems engineer at Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale at the time of his death.

A photograph that surfaced in May — 22 months after the shooting — shows McBean wearing earbuds as he lies mortally wounded on the grounds of his Oakland complex.

“It was only a BB gun,” McBean said before dying, according to Young’s lawsuit.

“The picture leaves no question that law enforcement are simply not telling the truth with respect to whether or not Jermaine had earphones in his ears,” said David I. Schoen, one of Young’s attorneys.

Using his Glock handgun, Peraza, 36, fired the lethal rounds at McBean. A legal response filed Monday on behalf of

Park

apartment Peraza and Israel denies most of Young’s allegations.

Israel defended Peraza’s tions.

“In my opinion, in this particular shooting, whether or not that individual had earbuds in is not relevant,” Israel said Tuesday. “The deputy didn’t see them. All he was processing was a man with a rifle walking amongst people. He took a course of action, and ultimately a grand jury will listen to what he

ac-