Florida Senate - 2012                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 16
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 816710                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/27/2012           .                                
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       The Committee on Rules (Smith) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete line 77
    4  and insert:
    5  Ronnie Lopez and Roberto Guzman as co-personal
    6  
    7  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
    8         And the title is amended as follows:
    9         Delete lines 2 - 61
   10  and insert:
   11         An act for the relief of Ronnie Lopez and Roberto
   12         Guzman as co-personal representatives of the Estate of
   13         Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, and for Ronnie Lopez,
   14         Jr., Ashley Lorena Lopez-Velasquez, and Steven Robert
   15         Guzman, minor children of Ana-Yency Velasquez, by
   16         Miami-Dade County; providing for an appropriation to
   17         compensate the estate and the minor children for the
   18         death of Ana-Yency Velasquez as a result of the
   19         negligence of an employee of Miami-Dade County;
   20         providing a limitation on the payment of fees and
   21         costs; providing an effective date.
   22  
   23         WHEREAS, Ronnie Lopez, co-personal representative of the
   24  Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, is the father of Ronnie
   25  Lopez, Jr., age 5, and Ashley Lorena Lopez-Velasquez, age 4, and
   26  Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, was the mother of Ronnie Lopez,
   27  Jr., and Ashley Lorena Lopez-Velasquez, and
   28         WHEREAS, Roberto Guzman, co-personal representative of the
   29  Estate of Ana-Yency Velasquez, deceased, is the father of minor
   30  child, Steven Robert Guzman, age 9, and Ana-Yency Velasquez,
   31  deceased, was the mother of Steven Robert Guzman, and
   32         WHEREAS, on February 23, 2009, a Miami-Dade County Police
   33  Officer, when driving his marked police unit through an
   34  intersection, failed to obey a posted stop sign and also did not
   35  engage his lights or sirens, and
   36         WHEREAS, protocol for the Miami-Dade County Police
   37  Department requires that lights and sirens be engaged whenever
   38  any police vehicle is in pursuit of another vehicle, and
   39         WHEREAS, s. 316.271, Florida Statutes, requires that sirens
   40  be engaged whenever an authorized emergency vehicle is
   41  responding to an emergency or in immediate pursuit of an actual
   42  or suspected violator of the law, and
   43         WHEREAS, the vehicle driven by the Miami-Dade County police
   44  unit was in pursuit of a phantom speeding vehicle at the time of
   45  the collision, and
   46         WHEREAS, the Miami-Dade County police cruiser crashed into
   47  and broadsided the vehicle operated by Ana-Yency Velasquez, then
   48  23 years of age and the mother of three minor children, at the
   49  intersection of N.W. 112th St. and N.W. 12th Ave., and
   50         WHEREAS, the Miami-Dade County police cruiser operated by
   51  the officer struck the vehicle driven by Ana-Yency Velasquez
   52  with such force that her automobile crashed into the bedroom of
   53  a nearby residence, throwing debris from the automobile onto the
   54  roof of the residence, and
   55         WHEREAS, Ana-Yency Velasquez was killed as a result of the
   56  negligence of an employee of Miami-Dade County, Florida, and
   57         WHEREAS, mediation of the claims of this matter was held on
   58  November 17, 2010, and
   59         WHEREAS, at mediation, Miami-Dade County acknowledged that
   60  the damages far exceeded the statutory limit of $200,000
   61  established under s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the
   62  representatives of Miami-Dade County agreed and entered into a
   63  Mediation Settlement Agreement, and