Pictured above: Demonstrators advocate for release the of Christopher Tonsel in hopes of “ending police violence.”
Courtesy of @psltampabay on Instagram
By Jenna Sierra
Last year, Christopher Tonsel, a 17-year-old Black teen, was shot and arrested by a St. Petersburg Police officer after allegedly brandishing a weapon. Now, community members are advocating for his release.
At around 3 p.m. on Oct. 20, authorities responded to a dispute between Tonsel and a young woman, who he supposedly dated.
After arriving on the scene, officers chased Tonsel behind a building where it was reported that Officer Leighton Williams shot Tonsel out of “self-defense” as the minor allegedly pointed a firearm at the officer. Tonsel was then arrested and brought to Bayfront Hospital with severe injuries.
After what the family says was a premature hospital release, Tonsel was sent to solitary confinement in the Pinellas County Jail as a minor, where he has been for months.
Currently, Tonsel is facing several felony charges — including carrying and being in possession of a firearm as a minor, and aggravated assault against a police officer.
After public pressure demanding the police body cam footage, the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) released it in a press release on Jan. 5, two days before a protest in support of Tonsel was hosted by the Tampa Bay Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
The video fueled activists and Tonsel’s family to demand his release, citing that the gun in the video was already on the ground before Williams shot Tonsel and that he was given no time to respond to the officer’s commands.
PSL organizer and senior political science major, Karla Correa said, “We’ve been organizing around Christopher Tonsel’s release because he shouldn’t be in jail, because he was shot, he’s only 17, he shouldn’t be in adult jail.”
Correa described the footage as “clear evidence of wrongdoing by [Williams].”
Along with the footage, the SPPD released a statement saying that the Pinellas County Use of Deadly Force Investigative Task Force determined Williams’s shooting of Tonsel lawful.
It claimed that a witness saw Tonsel strike the young woman in the dispute and that after chasing Tonsel, he did not comply with Williams’ commands to put the gun down and raise his hands up.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff Office and the SPPD, this was aggravated assault on a police officer and a lawful shooting.
However, Tonsel’s family as well as local activists say otherwise: They say Tonsel was wrongfully shot and charged with a “bogus” charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
When speaking with Tonsel’s mother, Catherine Jones, it is clear how much distress the shooting of her son has caused her.
After the shooting, she struggled to sleep and go about her daily activities, leading her to be terminated from her previous job. Now she works overnight shifts while trying to find justice for her son’s case. Currently, she accepts the services of a public defender, who Jones says the District Attorney’s office is trying to intimidate.
Following the shooting, Jones was able to see her son virtually via Zoom twice during his stay in the hospital, after being told visitors weren’t allowed. He has since been incarcerated as a minor at the adult detention center and can only communicate with Jones through phone calls.
When asked about his condition in jail, she said he vomited daily, was unable to hold any food down and lost a significant amount of weight.
“He’s fighting for his life, we’re still fighting,” Jones said.
His health continued to deteriorate from the bullet puncturing his liver, ribs, lungs and pancreas. According to Jones, Tonsel received poor medical treatment after being removed from the hospital prematurely. She said her son was given Tylenol and Gatorade by jail officials in response to vomiting daily, high blood pressure and several punctured internal organs.
Alongside Tonsel’s family, local activists have taken up the cause to advocate for Tonsel’s release and against the actions of SPPD, including Correa. She states the presence of “extreme bias” by the police department “favoring” Williams and “racist police terror,” regarding his action on Oct. 20.
“The only way to fight against police terror is by building a mass movement against it,” Correa said.
Tonsel is not accepting the plea deal offered by the District Attorney’s office of 58 months in adult prison.
His bail remains at $7,500. Thirty percent of that has been raised by activist organizations: $1,000 was crowdfunded by the Tampa Bay PSL and another $1,000 donated by the Florida based nonprofit, Dream Defenders.
Tonsel’s family, friends and community members continue to build momentum for his release — with the Tampa Bay PSL hosting a fundraiser movie night to raise more money for his bail on Feb. 5.
When asked to describe her son, Jones said, “Chris is not a bad kid. He’s very smart, very intelligent, he’s the class clown. He always wants to make you laugh.”
Jenna Sierra is a senior political science major at USF St. Petersburg.
Unfortunately the state attorney determines who gets charged as an adult. Bailing the person out before he turns 18 does not determine if he will eventually be charged as an adult.