The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 22

2B THE MIAMI HERALD THURSDAY JANUARY 3 1991 Parents fault police in slaying By DONNA GEHRKE Herald Staff Writer An undercover Miami police officer spotted a couple having sex in an Overtown open lot He decided to do nothing On Wednesday the parents of the woman filed a lawsuit in civil court alleging it was a fatal mistake Their 26-year-old daughter Anita Spires was found strangled in January 1989 10 minutes after undercover narcotics officer Robert Beaty came upon Spires and the man Homicide detectives suspect but cannot prove that convicted rapist Charles Henry Williams murdered Spires and as many as part of an ongoing homicide investigation Williams who was convicted of rape last spring is not named in the suit but police have identified him as a suspect in the murder His attorney Howard Landau said he comment on the lawsuit because he seen it No one answered the telephone at the media office of the Miami Police Department Wednesday evening The parents and their attorney Michael Gale also be reached for comment Cop witnessed 31 other women in a 10-year period parents Alfonso Spires and Jean Jones accuse Beaty and at least one other Miami police officer of spotting Spires raped or having sexual intercourse forced upon her in the on Super Bowl Sunday Jan 22 1989 However the officers did not investigate a reasonable the suit alleges Police records show that Beaty was looking for drug dealers when he found Spires and the man in a trash-littered lot in rape but did nothing suit says Overtown going on?" Beaty asked the man replied Spires lying under the man said nothing according to public records When Beaty returned he found her dead and the man gone Beaty identify the man because it was too dark bra was torn and her neck bruised lawsuit alleges Beaty and at least one unidentified officer were negligent in patrolling and investigating city of Miami was itself negligent or careless in the manner in which it trained supervised controlled and or otherwise supervised and controlled such police officers in the course and scope of their the suit accused "As a result Anita Spires was injured damaged and her death The suit said the identities of all the officers involved are not known because detectives sealed records about the incident as Aft ChMa 'Af a -i- rf' Lr V- 1 f' ft 4 1 fit i fr ay If 4 tV' ii illRi vis-- -1 y-x li $st ifcki 4 li '-I if--4 vy yWf fyi -iy CANDACE BARBOT Miami herald St CANDACE BARBOT Mian LONG WAIT AT AMERICAN: Passengers wait in line Wednesday at the American Airlines counter at Miami International Airport Airport braces for homebound travelers months to reach a five-year contract to replace the one that expired Jan 1 1990 Talks are scheduled to resume in Washington DC Monday Laura Richter and her family fumed over another matter They planned to fly American Wednesday from West Palm Beach to Dallas and from Dallas to Vail Colo for a little skiing Instead the Richters wound up in Miami plane had air conditioning problems so they flew us to Miami and we sweat the whole she said I know is I got on a plane at 8 this morning in West Palm Beach and noon and in Miami Desa Brajic and her family returning to New York after spending a sunny holiday on Key Bis-cayne were furious about missing their flight on American got here at 7 in the morning for an 8:15 flight The crowd of people trying to check in their baggage was so huge we missed our flight Now I feel like Orphan Annie with no place to sleep no place to go on standby They said the only way we can assure a flight today is to pay $75 more per person I just because of Herald business writer Ted Reed contributed to this report AIRPORT FROM IB fer the only snags The airline which says it is suffering from a pilot canceled two of its 85 Miami departures Wednesday But a company spokesman said the cancellations were not due to crew shortages Nationwide the airline canceled 34 flights Wednesday including nine because of crew shortages American pilots began the sickout Friday forcing the carrier to cancel about 800 flights between Friday and Tuesday The company and its pilots have tried for 15 Channel 51 executive resigns in shakeup IN BRIEF MIAMI Woman 66 held in stabbing death A 66-year-old Miami woman was in jail Wednesday on charges she stabbed her 64-year-old neighbor to death on New Day Clara Calhoun is charged with using a household knife to repeatedly stab Pauline Coney Metro-Dade homicide detective Israel Reyes said it was not clear yet what caused the argument between the two women Calhoun has a clean criminal record other than a charge of drunkenness form the early 1960s Reyes said She remained jailed Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder Both women were residents of Ward Towers a 200-unit rent-subsidized complex for the elderly at 2200 NW 54th St Retiree 59 shoots suspected burglar A Little River retiree chased an alleged burglar through the neighborhood and finally shot the man in the leg Wednesday Cornelious Collins 59 told police he saw Franklin Daniels 26 take a machete and electric saw from a pool shed at 9240 Little River Blvd Collins alerted a neighbor to call police and then chased Daniels until Daniels allegedly pulled a machete on Collins Collins ordered the man to stop When Daniels Collins shot him in the leg police said Daniels was taken to North Shore Hospital where he was in good condition late Wednesday He is charged with aggravated assault and burglary wife Eleanor said they were suspicious of Daniels after seeing him in the neighborhood the day before have been burglarized so much tired of taking she said SWEETWATER Mail bomb injures two Two people were injured Wednesday in Sweetwater after a package they received in the mail exploded FBI and city officials said type of device did go said FBI spokesman Paul Miller was received allegedly in the mail It could have been delivered by some package service" Metro-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a call at 4:36 pm to treat a woman in shock at the home in West Dade Identification and condition of the injured people were not available late Wednesday "A resident in the city received a bomb through the mail and when they opened it the package exploded" said Sweetwater Mayor Jose Rivero were two people hurt It was a man the one who received CORAL GABLES Three arrested after shot is fired at cop Three men were arrested Wednesday morning after one of them shot at a Coral Gables police officer during a car chase police said Gables police Capt Chuck Scherer was not injured after one of the men allegedly leaned out of a car and shot at him Police have yet to recover the gun Police arrested David James Smith 21 of 8824 NW 11th Ct Dwayne Johnson 21 of 18825 NW 43rd Ct and Ray Rae Duval 19 of 1083 NW 38th St Smith was charged with grand theft auto and resisting arrest Johnson was charged with attempted murder of a police officer aggravated assault with a deadly weapon grand theft auto and fleeing a police officer Duval was charged with grand theft auto and fleeing a police officer PORT OF MIAMI Police arrest Mercado stepson Metro-Dade police on Wednesday arrested Pedro Soto the stepson of Leonardo Mercado the convicted drug dealer who was beaten to death in 1988 by six Miami police officers Soto a key witness in the unsuccessful federal prosecution of the Miami narcotics officers was arrested with three others at the Port of Miami after police were told they allegedly stripped a 1990 Cadillac Police arrived at a parking lot between Terminals 4 and 5 where they saw the four subjects driving away from the Cadillac which was missing its front grill Officers arrested Soto 16 German Rodriguez 24 of 400 NW 132nd St Rafael Rodriguez 19 of 168 NW 32nd St and a 17-year-old male whose name was not released because he is a juvenile All four were charged with grand theft Maritza Soto former girlfriend confirmed that her son was arrested when she came to the police station to take him home have any proof that he was there or not They have proof that he was with the US DISTRICT COURT No bail set in Swedish fraud case A man sought by the Swedish government for more than three years in a $13 million fraud case was ordered held without bail by a federal magistrate Wednesday pending an extradition hearing Hans Arne Berglund 47 appeared before US Magistrate Ted Bandstra A warrant was issued for arrest on New Eve on behalf of the Swedish government which charges him with fraud and The alleged crimes occurred between 1985 and 1987 when Berglund worked for the Swedish financial institution Svenska Han-delbansken according to an affidavit HOLLYWOOD Rodney Dangerfield checks into hospital Rodney Dangerfield the respect-bereft comedian with the hangdog face is at least getting some rest He checked into a Hollywood hospital on New night and decided to stay all day Wednesday stable and here for a checkup and tests all he wants us to say" said Linda Hamlin a spokeswoman for Memorial Hospital Dangerfield 69 spent New Eve doing his bit at the Sunrise Musical Theatre The spotlight went up about 9 pm Dangerfield did his show He made laugh Nearly every one of the 4086 seats in the hall was filled with patrons was a surprise to everyone here to hear that he was in the said Lee Nickoson director of marketing at the theater for not achieving a greater share of the television audience is the gossip capital of the Raider responded created standards for the station he created a new concept and in November ratings the averages had increased over the ones released in Duran said prefer not to discuss our Sources said Duran was unhappy with the large amount of soap operas and imported films that preceded the 11 pm newscast As general manager Duran supervised Channel operations since 1988 After Leticia Callava was hired as a news anchor in 1988 the station achieved its highest ratings Callava girlfriend worked previously for main competitor WLTV Channel 23 Calvo 41 was executive vice president and assistant to the general manager at the ABC affiliate WWSB Channel 40 of which he is part owner Previously he worked at Spanish-language channels WXTV Channel 41 in New York and in Channel 23 as well as with Miami stations WTVJ Channel 4 and WCIX Channel 6 Metrorail breaks ridership record By BEATRIZ PARGA Herald Staff Writer The general manager of WSCV Channel 51 Alfredo Duran resigned Wednesday according to Donald Raider executive vice president of operations for the Telemundo network resigned because 1 want to go out in search of new professional Duran said need a new goal in my life and I have much to contribute to Channel development nor does Telemundo have much to offer for my professional advancement" Duran met with Raider after returning from vacation Wednesday Later in the day Telemundo representatives announced he will be replaced by Manuel Calvo who has more than 25 years of experience in the television industry Several days ago rumors circulated that Duran 29 would be fired evening rush hour Alvarez said The ads touted Metrorail as a way to beat Orange Bowl traffic The 101000 boardings do not translate directly into passengers since most people take the rail system coming and going The number of passengers would be slightly less than half that number The 50300 daily boardings in November are up 4 percent over October and 15 percent over November 1989 The extra riders are mostly commuters who first used Metrorail for a special event like the Orange Bowl parade Alvarez said beaten so decisively weather I think played a said Frank Martin the transit assistant director for rail operations weather was Alvarez attributed the record nd-ership for the much-maligned Met-rorail which has never come close to the more than 200000 daily riders transit planners promised before the system was built to targeted advertising Though the transit agency has relatively little advertising money it did air ads during the morning and METRORAIL FROM IB came despite a fare increase to $125 on Dec 1 follows the record-setting 50300 average daily weekday boardings for the month of November more people use Metrorail for going to the arena Bayside etc they just use it again to come downtown" said Danny Alvarez assistant director of customer services for the Metro-Dade Transit Agency you use the train likely to use it Transit administrators were at a loss to explain why the record was THiTRAfflSCRAPHli PEEVE OF THE WEEK The left turn traffic signal on South Dixie Highway at Colonial Drive has been out for more than a month said Joseph Redding of Perrine will have a good accident if not he said Bob Williams of Dade County Public Works said a car apparently hit the traffic controller for that intersection and the temporary controller was not capable of working the left turn lights A new controller is scheduled to be installed Friday Williams said THIS NIGHTMARE Construction is not finished yet on the Julia Tuttle Causeway Expect delays every weekday until March One lane in each direction will be closed so crews can complete the work which was supposed to be finished in December 1989 Other delays can be expected this Friday at the Tamiami toll plaza of Turnpike where one lane northbound and southbound will be closed from 7:30 am to 4 30 Other lanes to be closed in coming weeks: the eastbound off-ramp on State Road 836 to north LeJeune Road and the southbound LeJeune on-ramp to west SR 836 Crews are scheduled to work at these areas every weekday from 10 pm to 6 am until Jan 20 Streetlights on State Road 112 heading west from Interstate 95 are out -So are lights along the off-ramp of State Road 836 at Northwest 1 7th Avenue Lights on Interstate 95 between Northwest 95th and 129th Streets also are out To voice your gripe or pet traffic peeve call the Traffic Hot Line on TeleHeraid 373-4636 and dial the daily access code found on page 2A of the paper Then punch in 8723 Complied by Patrick Hackshaw TRAFFIC TIDBITS The Florida Department of Transportation maintains 660 miles of state highways in Dade and Monroe counties Those roads get 24 million miles of travel daily by motorists DOT oversees 635 fixed bridges and 14 movable bridges in Dade and Monroe The Miami Herald.