Florida SB 28: Relief of Christopher Cannon by the City of Tallahassee

Bill Text

28 
Relief of Reginald Jackson by the City of Lakeland 
2025-08-01T12:32:39Z 
Providing for the relief of Reginald Jackson by the City of Lakeland; providing an appropriation to compensate Mr. Jackson for injuries and damages sustained as a result of the negligence of Mike Cochran, a police officer with the Lakeland Police Department; providing a limitation on the payment of compensation and attorney fees, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
LCB 
Claim Bill/Local 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 (NP) SB 28 

 By Senator Rouson 

 16-00102-26 202628__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act for the relief of Reginald Jackson by the City 
 3 of Lakeland; providing an appropriation to compensate 
 4 Mr. Jackson for injuries and damages sustained as a 
 5 result of the negligence of Mike Cochran, a police 
 6 officer with the Lakeland Police Department; providing 
 7 a limitation on the payment of compensation and 
 8 attorney fees; providing an effective date. 
 9 
 10 WHEREAS, on October 18, 2001, Officer Mike Cochran of the 
 11 Lakeland Police Department stopped Reginald Jackson for driving 
 12 with an invalid license tag after the officer incorrectly typed 
 13 the tag number into his computer and the tag number was, 
 14 therefore, identified as invalid, and 
 15 WHEREAS, Officer Cochran then issued a citation to Mr. 
 16 Jackson for transporting his girlfriend’s 18-month-old brother 
 17 without a child safety seat and forbade Mr. Jackson to move the 
 18 vehicle without properly restraining the child, and 
 19 WHEREAS, Mr. Jackson asked if Officer Cochran could escort 
 20 his vehicle to his home a short distance away, but the officer 
 21 refused and directed Mr. Jackson to use an immediately adjacent 
 22 pay phone to call someone to bring a car seat for the child, and 
 23 WHEREAS, after the stop, Officer Cochran drove away and 
 24 positioned himself in an alley parallel to the site of the 
 25 initial stop and observed Mr. Jackson drive to a pay phone on 
 26 the next block, which Mr. Jackson did after determining that the 
 27 immediately adjacent pay phone was not operational, and 
 28 WHEREAS, while Mr. Jackson attempted to use the second pay 
 29 phone, Officer Cochran approached him and told him that he was 
 30 under arrest for disobeying a law enforcement officer, and 
 31 WHEREAS, Mr. Jackson was startled by the officer and ran 
 32 back to his vehicle, got inside, backed up a short distance, and 
 33 then drove forward without pressing the gas pedal, and 
 34 WHEREAS, when Officer Cochran told Mr. Jackson to stop the 
 35 vehicle or he would shoot, Mr. Jackson then pumped his brakes 
 36 twice, and the officer fired a .45 caliber bullet through the 
 37 windshield which struck Mr. Jackson in the neck and exited 
 38 through his back, and 
 39 WHEREAS, Mr. Jackson was unarmed and seated next to an 18 
 40 month-old child, and 
 41 WHEREAS, after the shooting, the police transported the 
 42 child to the police station in a marked vehicle without a child 
 43 safety seat, and 
 44 WHEREAS, as a result of his injury, Mr. Jackson will suffer 
 45 pain and be disabled for the rest of his life, and 
 46 WHEREAS, Officer Cochran, as an employee of the Lakeland 
 47 Police Department acting within the scope of employment, owed a 
 48 duty to Mr. Jackson to conduct himself in a reasonable manner 
 49 and exercise reasonable care, but he breached that duty by 
 50 discharging his firearm through Mr. Jackson’s windshield in a 
 51 careless and negligent manner, and 
 52 WHEREAS, a jury in the Circuit Court of the Tenth Judicial 
 53 Circuit in and for Polk County awarded Mr. Jackson $412,500 in 
 54 damages, and 
 55 WHEREAS, due to the limits of s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, 
 56 at the time of the incident, Mr. Jackson has collected only 
 57 $100,000 of his judgment against the City of Lakeland, and the 
 58 remainder may be recovered only through passage of a claim bill 
 59 by the Legislature, NOW, THEREFORE, 
 60 
 61 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 62 
 63 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are 
 64 found and declared to be true. 
 65 Section 2. The City of Lakeland is authorized and directed 
 66 to appropriate from funds of the city not otherwise encumbered 
 67 and to draw a warrant in the sum of $312,500 payable to Reginald 
 68 Jackson as compensation for injuries and damages sustained. 
 69 Section 3. The amount paid by the City of Lakeland pursuant 
 70 to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount awarded under 
 71 this act are intended to provide the sole compensation for all 
 72 present and future claims arising out of the factual situation 
 73 resulting in the shooting of Reginald Jackson as described in 
 74 this act. The total amount paid for attorney fees relating to 
 75 this claim may not exceed 25 percent of the amount awarded under 
 76 this act. 
 77 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.