(AmericanProsperity.com) – A Florida sheriff published body camera footage on October 2 that he says shows how his officers were justified when they kneed, elbowed, and punched a drug suspect who was resisting arrest. The suspect did this after being pinned to the floor and zapped with a stun gun.
Despite the video, the suspect’s attorney Harry Daniels is demanding a national inquiry against the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He also accused Sheriff T.K. Waters of covering up the officers’ actions against his client Le’Keian Wood. His arrest on September 29 drew massive attention after the publication of a cellphone video from a passerby, which showed officers beating Wood and slamming his head onto the ground while being handcuffed.
During a press conference, Waters and his assistant chief for public accountability Mike Shell told reporters that Wood was accused of murder and that the officers knew it. They also said that officers found out the suspect was connected to drug trafficking and weapons and was on probation for armed robbery when they chased him after a traffic stop.
When asked about the use of force against the suspect, Waters told reporters that while force and violence are “ugly,” these are necessary in some situations. He also said that force and violence aren’t contrary or unlawful to agency policy, and claimed that all police officers remain on the street, which he described as the place “where they belong.”
Woods was charged with numerous felonies, which included armed trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine and resisting arrest with violence. His lawyer said he would formally petition the US Department of Justice to investigate Woods’ beating by the police officers.
Daniels also explained it was “unfortunate” that Waters believed that the brutal “beating of an unarmed man” could somehow be “justified.” The attorney pointed out it was “obvious” that the sheriff was an enabler and complicit in “clear misconduct” by the police officers who stopped Woods.
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