In 1998, Tom Laresca went for a walk in his neighborhood in Boca Raton, Florida. That walk would alter the course of his life.
He’d gotten into an argument with his father and brother over his decision to report his boss for securities fraud—which resulted in the company folding and Laresca losing his well-paying job—so he went for a walk to cool down.
Screenshot from the movie “I Can’t Breathe: God Forgive Them,” showing Tom Laresca going for a walk to cool down after an argument between him and his father and brother became heated in Boca Raton, Fla., on Jan. 7, 1998. (Courtesy of Tom Laresca)
At the time, Laresca lived in one of the most exclusive subdivisions in Boca Raton, Boca Grove. What he didn’t know was that an armed burglar had been prowling his neighborhood and that police had been stationed throughout the subdivision. A neighbor saw Laresca walking and didn’t recognize him in the dark hooded sweatshirt he was wearing, so the neighbor called the police….