Pictured Above: Karla Correa said she owes approximately $88 in court fines and insurance fees, $50 a month in fines for six months, and 30 hours of community service. Correa also has a no-contact order with the officers involved in the case.
Jonah Hinebaugh | The Crow’s Nest
By Sophie Ojdanic
A former senator in Student Government who was charged with obstructing a police investigation last year has been approved for a program that allows nonviolent, first-time offenders to avoid the possibility of conviction in a trial.
Karla Correa, 21, a third-year political science major, was charged in 2020 with obstructing or resisting an officer without violence, a first-degree misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of up to one year in jail, 12 months’ probation and a $1,000 fine.
Under the Pinellas County court system’s pretrial intervention (PTI) program, however, Correa can complete certain requirements instead of going to trial. Once the requirements are met, a judge can dismiss the charge and eventually expunge it from the offender’s record.
As part of PTI, Correa said, she owes approximately $88 in court fines and insurance fees, $50 a month in fines for six months, and 30 hours of community service. Correa also has a no-contact order with the officers involved in the case.
In interviews with The Crow’s Nest, Correa has maintained that she did nothing wrong.
“The whole case was a sham,” Correa said last week. The state’s criminal justice system “is literally a huge money making scheme.”
“Here’s the most racist part,” Correa, who is Hispanic, said. “I have to take an anger management course.”
Correa said the anger management course would be eight hours, and she was given the option of a $75 course or $30 course.
A spokeswoman in the office of Correa’s attorney, Stephen Bernhardt, said the office would not comment on the case.
The obstruction charge arose from an incident outside Residence Hall One (now Pelican Apartments) around 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2019.
While leaving RHO, Correa and friends saw two campus police officers, Michael Wasserman and Patrick O’Donnell, questioning a homeless man.
The man, according to Chief David Hendry, had been seen around campus. He was stopped when he attempted to enter the residence hall, and the officers gave him a trespass warning. According to court records, the man had several nonviolent brushes with the law since 2017.
Correa said she stopped to ask the man if he was all right, and he said no.
When Correa confronted the officers and refused to leave the scene, she was handcuffed for obstructing the investigation and taken to the university police office. Her case was referred to the state attorney’s office, which decided to file the charge.
The day after the incident, Correa and two friends filed allegations of misconduct against the officers. That prompted an internal police investigation that led to a 32-page report clearing the officers.
Correa has denied interfering with the officers and criticized the internal investigation, saying that the investigator didn’t interview all potential witnesses, and glossed over some witness statements.
The state attorney’s office said that the prosecutor assigned to the case, Jordan Meyer, was out of the office and unavailable for comment.
Correa has continued speaking out in favor of criminal justice system reform.
Correa is currently working with the Emergency Campaign for Free Speech in Florida, whose “goal is to unite community groups, student organizations, unions, faith communities and more to urge legislators to defend democracy,” according to its website.
