County officials have added a new bus route in Tamarac to avoid the situation that left a student bloodied during an arrest last week.
Scores of students from J.P. Taravella High in Coral Springs routinely gather at the McDonald’s in Tamarac after school, and fights often break out.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the plaza two days in a row last week, and the situation escalated when about 200 students gathered on the second day. Deputies wound up arresting 15-year-old Delucca Rolle after punching him and slamming his head into the pavement.
Broward County Commissioner Michael Udine, whose district includes parts of Coral Springs and Tamarac, pushed for the additional bus loop to disperse students before things get out of hand.
“This doesn’t fix anything from the past,” said Chris Walton, director of Transportation for Broward County, but it’s a “proactive, common-sense way to try to avoid putting people in this situation. It’s been a complaint from this shopping center.”
A Sheriff’s office report listed “ongoing issues” with the teens at the plaza known as Tamarac Town Square. The day before Rolle’s arrest, a fight caused property damage to a customer’s car.
The problem, authorities said, is that Taravella students walk across the street to a McDonald’s to hang out while they wait for the bus. The county bus, Route 88, stops in front of McDonald’s 40 minutes after school is dismissed. The new bus will arrive 20 minutes earlier, beginning Monday.
“If they have an hour and it’s a gathering place, this is a common-sense solution … if we can get something there quicker to disperse them,” Udine said.
“We have received complaints from tenants and shoppers, about their behavior,” confirmed Eric Davidson, spokesman for Regency Centers of Jacksonville, the management company for Tamarac Town Square.
Barney McCoy, the county’s director of service and capital planning, said the extra bus had been scheduled to go into service in July but moved was moved up to April 29 because of Udine’s request. He estimated that at least a dozen Taravella students use that bus and get off in Tamarac, Sunrise and Plantation. Fares cost $2 each way.
lhuriash@sunsentinel.com, 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash