Victim In Truck Stop Robbery Gone Horribly Wrong Dies
WESTON (CBSMiami) — A 28-year-old Plantation woman declared brain dead following a truck-stop robbery last week died Friday night.
In the early hours of Sep. 20, a group of people were standing outside the Seminole Truck Stop in Weston, jamming to Jamaican music as part of the truck stop's Caribbean Night event.
Two men quickly walked through the crowd while spraying pepper spray. In that crowd was Kimberlyn Clarke. Overcome by the stinging pepper spray, Clarke dropped to the ground, slamming her head on a car's rear bumper.
She was taken to Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, where she was in a coma. According to BSO detectives, Clarke died late Friday night.
"It's such a senseless thing that happened,'' Marjorie Crossfield, Clarke's mother, told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.
"My friend Kim does not deserve this,'' Carleen Ruddocksmith told the paper. "She is a gift from God.''
Clarke was a key supervisor at Walking Out Security and taught Sunday school. She has also volunteered for the Urban League, YMCA and Plantation Hospital. She mentored young girls in foster homes and helped feed the homeless, Ruddocksmith said.
Born in Jamaica, Clarke was raised in Florida and went to Plantation High School and Florida Atlantic University.
The case was previously viewed as a robbery, but because of Clarke's condition, it is now a homicide, said Broward Sheriff's Office Homicide Detective Kevin Forsberg.
"This is very rough indeed,'' Patrick Crossfield, Clarke's father, told the Herald. "We want justice in this case."
Video taken at the Seminole Indian Weston Truck Stop at 4690 U.S. Hwy. 27 shows the two men spraying the crowd and snatching a gold chain off one man's neck.
Surveillance video from early that evening shows one of the men buying a Black & Mild cigar at the truck stop's convenience store. The suspect has dreadlocks and is wearing a 2012 Ralph Lauren T-shirt with a U.S. flag.
At the Caribbean Night party, the two suspects didn't appear to be part of the crowd and witnesses at the scene didn't recognize them. For five years, the truck stop has held Caribbean Night on Wednesdays at its restaurant and bar, Café 27.
Anyone with information should call Forsberg at 954-321-4210 or contact Broward Crime Stoppers anonymously at 954-493-8477 (TIPS) or online at www.browardcrimestoppers.org.
"For one gold chain, someone's life was lost," Marjorie Crossfield told the Herald. "I wish he had a conscience and turned himself in."
An announcement regarding funeral arrangements for Clarke has yet to be made.
CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report.
(©2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report.)
