By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
Monday, October 3, 2011
LARGO — A former Carwise Middle School student apologized on Monday to the police officer he stabbed, telling him "you are a hero even to me."
Kenny Stoltman's statement came at a hearing in which he pleaded guilty to juvenile charges of aggravated battery and battery on a school board employee.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Jack Day ordered the 14-year-old boy to continue staying at a residential treatment center, and said he would be placed on probation if he progresses sufficiently to be released.
Day said Stoltman's probation could last up to his 19th birthday, but said officials in the system do not believe it will last that long.
It all stemmed from an incident this April in which Stoltman took 11 bottles of gasoline and a knife to the Palm Harbor school and stabbed officer Kenneth Fridlund when confronted ...