Seconds after a Broward circuit judge ordered John Ross to jail Friday morning, he escaped the courtroom, evaded deputies, jumped into Fort Lauderdale’s New River and drowned.
The 29-year-old’s body was recovered by Fort Lauderdale police Friday afternoon and taken to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office…
Dorothy Springer, Ross’ mother, said her son had no idea he was going to be ordered into custody when he arrived in court.
”He was under the impression that everything was going to be dropped,” she said.
Ross had been arrested for a June incident in which he was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm. The judge said he violated his bond terms when he was caught with cocaine and charged with intending to distribute.Ross raced down seven flights of stairs, stripped off his polo shirt, went out the courthouse’s back exit and across Southeast Third Avenue. He jumped onto the deck of a yacht, then springboarded into the river.
Ryan Fitzgerald [from the yacht] grabbed a life preserver to try and aide Ross, then ran along a brick path on the river’s south side. Trailing behind Ross were two deputies from the Broward Sheriff’s Office who jumped into the water to try to pull him out.
Hours later, Fort Lauderdale police recovered his body.
The end of a bright young career.
Lawsuit to follow, no doubt,
The river WOULD be a great escape route…if you know how to swim. I guess he forgot about that part of the program.
It’s time for a “Florida”, category.
Live free or die…
Is this a raging river? How is it that the deputies jumped in to get him out yet didn’t recover a body until hours later. I guess we could get all Adam C and say “death by cop!”
One less idiot, yay!
What are you talking about, did you die?
He probably had a taser nailed to his ass, makes it tough to swim.
Tis sad when a man’s death makes the world a better place.
Thinning of the herd.
I was thinking the same thing. How on earth could he drown? Was he handcuffed? Did he knock himself out by hitting his head on something?
I read the article. I seems like he was just a crappy swimmer. There was a strong current, and he was trying to swim against it. I’m guessing that the current scared him and he panicked. Panic will usually kill you in such situations.
The mother was going on that her son died because he was black. She wanted to know why the police didn’t jump in after him. Perhaps because the cops knew better than to jump in to a fast flowing river while fully loaded with gear and without adequate rescue equipment.
Sorry mom. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Your son placed himself in a dangerous place. Don’t blame the police for now following him here.
I was thinking the same thing. How on earth could he drown? Was he handcuffed? Did he knock himself out by hitting his head on something?
I read the article. I seems like he was just a crappy swimmer. There was a strong current, and he was trying to swim against it. I’m guessing that the current scared him and he panicked. Panic will usually kill you in such situations.
The mother was going on that her son died because he was black. She wanted to know why the police didn’t jump in after him. Perhaps because the cops knew better than to jump in to a fast flowing river while fully loaded with gear and without adequate rescue equipment.
Sorry mom. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Your son placed himself in a dangerous place. Don’t blame the police for now following him here.
..another fatal encounter with the law/legal system in this country.
DNA tests on the body.
He may be way smarter then he seems.
The New River was created by a earthquake in 1805. Numberous holes on the bottom of the New River create these whirlpools that will suck a person down, no matter how good of a swimmer he was. Within the past year, we’ve had 2 deaths within a 3 block radius of the Jail, John Ross is one of them.