Florida Man Headlines – September 17

September 17 – Florida Man Crashed Into Jailhouse to Make a Bizarre Political Statement

Joseph Leedy, a 40-year-old Florida man with strong opinions against former United States President Donald Trump and law enforcement agencies, chose the most direct way to end up in jail: By crashing an old Ford Taurus into it. The incident happened at the Martin County Jail on a Monday night; video of the crash obtained by Newsweek shows Leedy slamming against the heavy doors of the lobby entrance while wearing a woman’s camisole and no pants.

After putting the car in reverse, Leedy got out of the car and walked into the jail to look at the damage he had just caused, then he went to retrieve a quart of motor oil from the trunk. After pouring oil on the floor, Leedy told a flabbergasted deputy that he was setting fire to the jail because he was there to kill police officers. He also grabbed a few rubber snakes and threw them around while launching into a tirade against Trump and resisting arrest. Leedy had to be subdued with a Taser weapon after he wrestled paramedics who tried to take him to the hospital because he was visibly injured.

No one at the jail was injured, but Leedy caused damage that will likely cost thousands of dollars to repair. He continued to make strange political statements about how the Trump administration failed to implement police reform, so the devil had told him to correct this with a “scorched earth” approach that involved destroying law enforcement facilities and eliminating police officers in his community. After being cleared at the hospital, Leedy was locked up in the jail he had crashed into hours earlier.

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September 17 – Florida Teen Dressed Like a Florida Man and Got Kicked Out of Her Prom

Sophie Savidge, a high school student enrolled in the Mason Classical Academy (MCA) in Naples, was told to leave the prom ceremony and dance because she arrived looking dapper in a three-piece suite complete with 80s-style shoulder pads and a vest in a British racing green color. According to a report aired by WINK Channel 11 News, the main CBS affiliate in Southwest Florida, Savidge was allowed to enter the prom, but a school administrator set her aside to let her know that dressing up as a Florida man was not proper attire.

The WINK news segment featured an interview with Sophie’s mother Holly Savidge, who explained that she had dropped off her daughter at the MCA prom five minutes before getting a phone call about the situation. Mrs. Savidge believes that Sophie was kicked out because she is a female student who wore a suit cut with traditional male styling instead of a dress, gown, or one-piece formal garment, which are the options listed on MCA’s dress code. The school responded with a statement saying that any student who does not adhere to the dress code is allowed to change and come back; however, MCA seems to violate Title IX of the federal education funding rules in this incident.

As a junior student at MCA, which is a charter school open to public school students of Collier County, Savidge is certainly subject to the dress code; however, the school stops being a private institution when it grants vouchers to students in the district, thus being subject to Title IX, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education programs receiving federal funding. This was upheld with a federal appeal in Bonnie Peltier v. Charter Day School, Inc., No. 20-1001, which featured a similar situation in North Carolina. While charter schools often claim that their vouchers are covered by state funds, this is a Florida man-style argument that often fizzles in court.