Candice Roberts, 49, was sleeping in an alleyway in St. Petersburg when she was struck and killed by a garbage truck in the early hours of May 30.<\/p>\n
The driver, Nathan D. Brown, was retrieving a dumpster off Third Street North, behind Ruby\u2019s Elixir, when his vehicle struck Roberts, court records show.<\/p>\n
Brown was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death.<\/p>\n
He has since posted bond, which was set at $50,000. He pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
His lawyer, Lee Pearlman,\u00a0told the Tampa Bay Times\u00a0that Brown was not aware he had hit someone sleeping in the alleyway.<\/p>\n
But the incident has raised questions about the city and state\u2019s responsibility as well.<\/p>\n
Advocates who work with the homeless population point to ordinances and laws that criminalize public sleeping and, they say, push homeless individuals to stay in unsafe areas.<\/p>\n
Jacqueline Azis, an attorney with the\u00a0Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a>\u00a0who specializes in issues of economic justice, said these anti-homeless policies need to be reexamined.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to think about why is it that there are people who are sleeping in unsafe places, like alleyways, like behind garbage dumpsters,\u201d said Azis. \u201cIt\u2019s because there\u2019s no place they can lawfully be in the city of St. Petersburg.\u201d<\/p>\n The city enforces its own\u00a0ordinances that restrict<\/a>\u00a0public sleeping and temporary shelters.<\/p>\n And, in 2024, a state law known as\u00a0Florida\u2019s camping ban<\/a>\u00a0put more pressure on local governments to curb homelessness.<\/p>\n ALSO READ:\u00a0AG Uthmeier on Florida\u2019s camping ban law: \u2018Homelessness is not permitted\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The law enabled local residents and businesses to take legal action against jurisdictions that allow unauthorized sleeping or camping in public spaces that haven\u2019t been designated by the Department of Children and Families.<\/p>\n Andy Oliver, community activist and pastor of Allendale United Methodist Church, said these punitive approaches are not the way to address the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cHandcuffs do not solve homelessness. A house, a home solves homelessness,\u201d said Oliver.<\/p>\n Oliver said he spoke to Roberts when doing homeless outreach in the past. While he says he can\u2019t know for sure why Roberts was in the alleyway, he said finding a place to sleep is a struggle for many who are unhoused.<\/p>\n \u201cI would imagine she felt like it was safe from interactions from the police or from other people, but unfortunately it wasn\u2019t safe from the garbage truck,\u201d said Oliver.<\/p>\n Oliver said people have told him about being arrested.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ordeal they have to go through \u2014 the fines, showing up at court, maybe getting a lawyer, maybe not,\u201d said Oliver, \u201cwhen you\u2019re already living on the extreme margin, it just disrupts their life even more.\u201d<\/p>\n