Sheriff's Office to honor student, coach and corporal

TAMPA — On Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office will honor a coach who helped save a student's life and a corporal who diffused a couple's fight over a revolver.

At the quarterly awards ceremony at the Falkenberg Road Jail's assembly room, Wharton High School coach Tommy Tonelli and junior Jonathan Torres will receive the Citizen's Award.

At a basketball game in November, player Drake William collapsed on the court. By the time Tonelli got to the junior forward's side, Drake's eyes had rolled back and he wasn't breathing.

Tonelli started chest compressions, tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and switched back to chest compressions. It wasn't working, so he asked Torres to take over the CPR while he went to get the gym's automatic external defibrillator.

Paramedics on the school's grounds used the defibrillator and took him to the hospital. Drake was fine, and officials praised the coach's quick response. Drake will be at the ceremony.

The Sheriff's Office will also give Cpl. Mark Clark the Medal of Distinguished Service for stopping a couple's struggle over a large-caliber revolver.

On Dec. 24, a fighting couple pulled over to the side of U.S. 301 just south of Symmes Road Thursday afternoon as they were being trailed by a Hillsborough sheriff's deputy who sensed trouble.

They had children in the backseat, as they fought over the gun.

Clark fired a Taser into the 32-year-old Tampa man's thigh as he dangled out of the passenger door, the Sheriff's Office reported. The man reacted to the shock, but still managed to kick the Taser away and keep trying to wrestle the gun away from the woman.

Clark pulled his pistol and fired once, hitting the man in his upper body, killing him, said Sheriff David Gee. No one else was injured, and the Sheriff's Office praised the corporal's actions.

Also at Wednesday's ceremony, deputy Anthony Collins will receive an award from the National Sheriff's Association called the Medal of Merit for his work in assisting in the arrest of criminals who are believed to be involved in gangs.