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Update: Donald Crandall, 49, was arrested and charged with improper exhibition of a firearm in October 2018. Under a deferral of prosecution agreement, the charges were to be dropped if Randall completed 50 hours of community service, paid a $100 fine, and agreed not to possess any firearms for 6 months. “Should [Crandall] fail to meet the terms and conditions of this agreement, the agreement shall be void,” said the assistant state’s attorney. Thank you to everyone who took this action and helped to get charges filed!
On September 8, 2018, Florida A&M student Isiah Butterfield posted a video to Twitter that quickly went viral. It showed a middle-aged white man pulling a handgun on Butterfield and three of his friends (all African-American) at a student housing complex when they attempted to visit a friend.
The man who pulled the gun is Don Crandall, a manager with the company that owns the building, Baymont Inn & Suites by Wyndham Hotels. But Crandall did not reside there and guns are strictly prohibited in the building. Crandall was fired by Baymont soon after the video was tweeted.
Crandall was allowed to walk by the Tallahassee Police Department, however. They have brought no charges against Crandall despite the fact that he illegally brandished his handgun against young people who were simply trying to go about their own business.
Please contact Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo and Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell through one of the channels below with the following message (personalized to your liking):
I am contacting you to demand you bring charges against Don Crandall for illegally brandishing a handgun against Florida A&M student Isiah Butterfield and his friends on September 8, 2018 in a building at a student housing complex. There is no legal basis for Crandall’s behavior that day. He repeatedly attempted to provoke a confrontation with these young men because he is racist and was profiling them. They merely wanted to go about their business and visit a friend. Then Crandall brandished his handgun to intimidate them in a building where firearms are strictly prohibited. As a then-manager with the company that owns the building, Crandall must have known this fact. Additionally, by any objective standard, Crandall violated Florida Statute Section 790.10. He brandished a firearm in a “threatening, careless, angry or rude” manner. There was no threat to his safety, only theirs. Do your job and charge him with breaking that law. There is no place in the Tallahassee community for treating young people in this manner. They are our future and our pride.
Police Chief Michael DeLeo
Phone: (850) 891-4393
Email via webform: http://www.talgov.com/Main/email.aspx?emailto=michael.deleo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TallyPD/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TallyPD
Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell
Phone: (850) 606-2500
Email: Campbellj@leoncountyfl.gov
Once you have contacted Chief DeLeo and State’s Attorney Campbell, fill out the three fields below and click the orange banner to report taking action!