Video Details Fatal Jail Fight

Still to be explained: how two youths both wound up outside their cells at the Juvenile Detention Center.

Pinellas sheriff's detectives are reviewing a videotape that could provide key evidence into the Saturday night fight that ended a 17-year-old boy's life at Pinellas County's Juvenile Detention Center.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha would not discuss the videotape in detail, but said it shows the two youths fighting just outside the cell of the boy who was killed, not inside the cell as some witnesses had indicated.

Videocameras run continuously inside the detention center.

Daniel Matthews, 17, who lived in an unincorporated area north of St. Petersburg, was killed in the fight with Louis Lauro, 16, of Pinellas Park, officials said.

Lauro had not been charged in the fight Monday. Pasha said sheriff's officials have not met with the State Attorney's Office to discuss their investigation.

Mable Zirkle, Lauro's grandmother and legal guardian, said she went to the JDC seeking information Monday and got none. But officials did arrange for Lauro to call her later.

"He feels really bad and he says "Grandma, he hit me first.' It's just a nightmare I wish I could wake up from," Zirkle said.

Lauro's aunt, Pam Lewen, said she also spoke to Lauro by phone and "he told me he's so sorry it happened."

Matthews' family declined to comment Monday.

Florida Juvenile Justice Secretary Bill Bankhead issued a statement saying, "This is the first incident where a youth has lost his life as a result of an altercation with another youth while in the department's custody. I am deeply saddened that this has happened. One youth lost his life and another youth's life will forever be impacted."

Bankhead's agency is conducting a separate investigation.

He said he also had dispatched two of his top detention officials to the center Monday.

Among the important questions in both investigations will be: How did Lauro get out of his cell?

He got out of his cell just as another inmate, the roommate of Matthews, was walking back to his room after making a phone call.

Lauro emerged into the hallway and confronted Matthews just outside the cell door, officials said. Pasha said Matthews apparently struck Lauro first and Lauro hit Matthews in the jaw.

Matthews reeled back, then came at Lauro again, and Lauro allegedly hit him in the temple.

Preliminary autopsy reports cited blunt trauma to Matthews' head.

Investigators will try to determine whether a punch or a fall caused his death.

Matthews was in the JDC on a charge of domestic aggravated battery, and records indicate he has two previous arrests for battery and one for larceny.

Lauro is facing violation of probation on charges of battery, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief.

Records indicate previous charges involving a false fire alarm, battery, and a lewd and lascivious charge that Zirkle said was reduced to criminal mischief.

The JDC is a 120-person jail used primarily for inmates under 18 facing juvenile charges. The facility is near the county criminal justice complex on 49th Street.

Citing the ongoing investigations, Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman Catherine Arnold declined to say how many staff members on Saturday night were working in the wing of the JDC where the fight occurred.

Assistant DJJ Secretary Larry Lumpee also refused to discuss the specifics of when Pinellas JDC inmates are allowed out of their cells after a general "lockdown."

Pasha said sheriffs' investigators had been reviewing a logbook that details various events at the Detention Center, such as when the cells are locked down for the evening.

Although youths at the center often are allowed to gather in a common area during the day, they had spent extra time in their cells Saturday because workers were installing carpet, Pasha said.

Pasha said Lauro and Matthews had been arguing all day, often hurling insults from their cells.

There was one cell between theirs.

- Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or at 727 893-8232.