Tampa - On March 8, 2002 during the Presidential visit to St. Petersburg, St. Pete Police Sgt. Lightfield assaulted Mauricio Rosas for holding a sign that read "June is Gay Pride Month."

Mr. Rosas was standing on the corner of 118th Avenue North and 28th Street North along with three friends holding signs in the hope that the President would see their message. As soon as one of the officers saw the sign he approached Rosas and friends ordering us to go to a designated area. When asked why we had to move he responded by saying, "I don't make the rules. I'm just following orders."

Soon thereafter Sgt. Lightfield arrived on the scene. He approached Mrs. Haught and told her she had to move. When she asked why he hollered, "Go NOW! Haught asked where the pro Bush people could stand but he had no response except to holler, "GO NOW!" Rosas then asked Sgt. Lightfield why they had to move while the others who had cameras could stay? Lightfield charged forward grabbing him, twisting his arms saying, "If you don't turn it [video camera] off I will arrest you for obstruction!" In the background Melissa Winn said, "leave him alone, he's disabled." Lightfield did not acknowledge and the battery resulted in mild lacerations to Rosas' left arm and damage to the camera.

Rosas says, "I think that because my sign said, "June is Gay Pride Month that Sergeant has something against gays. Fortunately I had my video camera and was able to record the whole incident"

Rosas filed an internal affairs report with the St. Petersburg Police on March 11, 2002 with Major John R. Thompson and it was assigned to Sgt. Tim Story of the St. Petersburg Police. The investigation is ongoing.