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Central Florida News


Purple Alert Bill Becomes Law in Florida

by Robbie Gaffney (WFSU)

Photo: Priscilla Du Preez


If someone with a disability or brain injury goes missing, a purple alert could go out to help find them. That’s due to a new law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis this week.

Beverly Marshall is from Sebring. She says if a purple alert had been in place sooner, her son might still be alive.

Her son had a cognitive disability and wandered away from home. He came to a 7-11 gas station but couldn’t ask for help due to his disability.

“He was distraught, and he was crying. He could not ask people for help. He couldn’t speak or write. He wandered across the street from that 7-11 to a fire station, and he drowned in a pond about 30 feet from that fire station.”

Marshall says if a purple alert had gone out, someone might have helped her son at the gas station.


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