Anxious local student unbuckles seatbelt, gets ‘Click It or Ticket’ citation

BRADENTON — Denise Muro was stopped Tuesday morning by a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office deputy as she was dropping her three children at Stewart Elementary on 15th Avenue Northwest.

As she entered the school’s car line for drop-off, Muro said, Deputy Dennis Mallardi popped his head in her driver’s side window and asked if everyone was buckled up.

“Yup,” the single mom said proudly, knowing her children understand how seriously she takes the state’s seatbelt law.

But when she turned around to glance at her 11-year-old son Malcolm in the back seat, his face was stone white. As they had pulled into the car line, he’d taken his belt off. Muro said she had two wheels on school ground and two on the street as Mallardi stopped her car.

“Malcolm had just unbuckled to prepare to hop out in a speedy manner as is the school’s request, and mine, not to dilly dally and keep the car line moving,” she said. “It is not uncustomary for my children to do that as they enter school grounds to get the backpacks on and be ready to go.”

When Muro started to plead her case to the deputy, he stopped her and told her to drop her children off and return.

“After I pulled away, Malcolm said, ‘Mom, I had just unbuckled,’” she said. And she’d watched him buckle in when they left their home Tuesday morning.

After her children got out, she circled back to the deputy and he handed her a $116 ticket.

Topping her frustration, Muro said, was the fact that Tuesday was the first day of FCAT testing at Stewart.

“I’m upset my son had to go into school emotionally upset before the test,” Muro said. “He was punished for something he didn’t do wrong. I could see he internalized this and felt it was all his fault. He struggles academically, so this was one thing he did not need on his mind today.”

Stewart Principal Jackie Featherston said multiple deputies, including one on a motorcycle, were patrolling the area around the elementary before school started. They were not on school property, but on the streets surrounding the campus.

They’re out because it’s the second week of the statewide “Click It or Ticket” campaign, said sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow.

In 2008, 68 percent of children younger than 17 who were killed in traffic crashes were not wearing seat belts or not using a car seat, Bristow said.

“The reasons we’re at schools is because of that statistic,” Bristow said, responding to Muro’s complaint about ticketing on the first day of FCAT testing. “Click It and Ticket runs through March 15, and that’s been duly noted and publicized. If you’re on the road, you’ll be cited.”

Some Manatee schools, including King Middle School, even have click or ticket notifications on their marquee signs outside the schools.

Muro called the sheriff’s office about the ticket, and Bristow said sheriff’s officials are slated to meet with her today. Anyone else with questions about the campaign or about seat belt laws, he said, can contact the sheriff’s office at (941) 747-9011.

Muro, who does not have a traffic violation in Manatee County according to the Manatee clerk of courts’ Web site, said she will plead not guilty to the seat belt violation charge and mail her ticket in.

“I will fight this ticket, and I hope all others do as well,” she said. “Regardless, I will lose money because as an hourly employee I will lose who knows how many hours sitting in a courtroom waiting my turn.”

Deputy Mallardi could not be reached for comment.