Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said that the Florida police officers who were involved in a controversial arrest of a Black man will not be facing disciplinary actions as they acted within department policy.
The situation comes after the law enforcement personnel in question went viral after video footage showed them brutally beating the drug suspect last week. Waters noted that a moment from a bystander video that sparked the outrage over the situation had been "intentionally altered."
Brutal Police Beating of Black Man
The sheriff said that based on currently available information, the agency believes that detectives acted appropriately during the arrest of the Black man. The suspect was later identified to be Le'Keian Woods.
The Jacksonville sheriff acknowledged that the officers in the arrest used force to take Woods into custody and said that it was "ugly." However, he noted that the reality is that all force and all violence will look ugly. He argued that this did not mean that being ugly meant that it was unlawful or contrary to policy, as per CNN.
The suspect, 24-year-old Woods, was out of jail on felony probation from a robbery charge and was pulled over on Friday on suspicion of drug activity when the arrest occurred. The Black man now faces drug charges on top of charges of resisting officers with violence.
The suspect's attorney has called the drug charges "trumped up" and noted in a Tuesday news conference that police officers used "deadly force" in arresting his client. Attorney Harry Daniels said that kneeing an individual in the head is not just simply use of force, but deadly force. He added that the video showed no signs that his client warranted any type of force.
The suspect allegedly fled authorities after they stopped the vehicle that he was driving and one officer could be seen using a stun gun on Woods, which caused him to fall on his face in a roadway. A police report claimed that Woods began to "violently resist" officers when they tried to take him into custody.
Viral Video Footage
Attorney Marwan Porter said during the Tuesday news conference that Woods could potentially have a ruptured kidney, migraine headaches, and is hurting. Another attorney for the suspect's family, Broderick Taylor, said that the Black man is now unable to walk or eat without throwing up, according to NBC News.
The viral video also showed police officers beating Woods in the face, bloodying his face, and kneeing him in the head while yelling for him to put his hands behind his back. Porter said that if Waters' remarks are true, then getting a "UFC beatdown" for refusing to put your hands behind your back is consistent with JSO policies and procedures.
Woods' mother, Natassia Woods, also commented on the video of her son getting beaten by police officers. She said that she could not believe her eyes when she saw what happened to her boy. She even questioned why the law enforcement personnel are not being pressured despite brutally beating up a human being, said CBS News.
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