Activist spurs probe of fugitive's death

In response to a civic activist's claims of a cover-up, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal investigation into the death of a fugitive who drowned Sept. 10 in Hunter's Lake.
Brian P. Moore, who ran as a Socialist Party candidate for president in 2008, claims sheriff's deputies may have been responsible for the death of James Rayford, 35, who was wanted in Pasco County on several warrants. Rayford drowned in the lake when authorities from both counties tried to apprehend him while he was attempting to flee in a kayak.
According to a sheriff's office report, Rayford drowned after he "went off the right side of the kayak" and repeatedly went under water and came back to the surface for air as a law enforcement helicopter was hovering overhead.
The fourth time Rayford went under, he did not resurface, according to a report. His body resurfaced the next day.
Rayford's death was ruled an accidental drowning by the Fifth District Medical Examiner's Office in Lake County.
Moore claims Rayford's death was unnecessary due to law enforcement incompetence and racism. He also is claiming authorities are trying to cover up how Rayford, who was black, actually died. Moore lives near Hunter's Lake and said he frequently rides his bike on the streets around the lake, sometimes stopping to chat with residents in the neighborhood.
Moore claims some of those residents were eyewitnesses to the drowning and gave him an account that differed greatly from what the sheriff's office described in its reports.
Sgt. Kathleen Reid, with the sheriff's office Internal Affairs division, said there is an ongoing investigation, but couldn't provide specifics.
"We are looking into certain things based on what he (Moore) provided," she said.
Moore said he sent an e-mail on Sept. 25 to the sheriff's offices in Hernando and Pasco counties requesting either an internal investigation or an investigation by an independent civilian body.
Reid responded by requesting from Moore a list of eyewitnesses to the drowning, Moore wrote in a statement e-mailed Wednesday to Hernando Today.
Attached to Moore's e-mail were notes from interviews he conducted with individuals who either witnessed Rayford's drowning or observed the extensive law enforcement presence Sept. 10 at Hunter's Lake.
Moore said he spoke with a neighborhood couple on Sept. 17. The retirees from Brooklyn, N.Y., witnessed the "entire drama" from their back porch, which abuts the southwest portion of the lake on Eastpoint Court, Moore wrote in his notes.
According to what Moore claims they told him, Rayford was killed by the helicopter pilot:
"... A sheriff's helicopter swooned [sic] down directly upon Rayburn [sic], in a menacing action, chasing him, and lowering the body of the helicopter right on top of the boat, and on top of Rayford's head.
The couple "said the legs of the helicopter were lowered as far down as the water level, constantly bumping Rayburn [sic] and the boat. Then, all of a sudden, one of the helicopter drops exploded on top of the kayak, or canoe ... and it hit the boat so hard that it exploded the boat high into the air, and once again coming down hard on top of Rayford as he floundered in the water."
When contacted Thursday by Hernando Today, the wife denied she had witnessed Rayford's death.
She said that "Moore was making up stories and not allowed to come by our house anymore."
She also said that Sgt. Reid had been over to her house Wednesday.
Moore said Deputy John Fremer contacted him Wednesday and told him the couple were upset with him and didn't want him contacting them again.
The couple told Sgt. Reid "that they wanted me to stop," Moore said he was told by Fremer, "and if I wanted to contact them I had to go through sheriff's office and that I was intimidating them."
When contacted Thursday by Hernando Today, Fremer acknowledged he had talked with Moore on Wednesday but wasn't authorized to discuss that conversation with the press.
Moore said he also made contact on Sept. 17 with Frank Avey and his wife, who live on Hampshire Avenue.
While the Aveys were not eyewitnesses to the drowning, they heard and saw the commotion that continued after dusk when patrol cars began to shine lights into their backyard, Moore wrote in his notes.
Avey commented that none of the deputies would say what was happening or warn them about the possible fugitive escape.
"There were three patrol cars by my house," Avey said Thursday. "The police should have said something to the neighborhood."
Avey said the notes Moore took from their conversation were accurate. He agreed with every word.