A new video has surfaced with a new claim of excessive force by police in Jacksonville.
The video is from the juvenile detention center in November 2014. A guard can be seen slamming a teen into a wall by his head.
The video came to light during Wednesday’s debate between State Attorney Angela Corey and Public Defender Matt Shirk.
Documents obtained by Action News Jax claim that the former teen inmate, Deandre Ezell, wants that officer brought to justice. Ezell was a teen at the time of the 2014 incident and is now an adult.
In the video, Ezell can be seen standing up, kicking furniture and knocking things over. That's when Ezell claims he was being asked questions by Officer David Stevens while he was being handcuffed during intake.
That's when Ezell said Officer Stevens smashed his head into a concrete wall and he was knocked unconscious. The documents state Ezell was taken to UF Health Jacksonville for his injuries.
Ezell was later arrested on felony charges of battery on a law enforcement officer, which ended up getting dropped.
Ezell claims the officers weren't disciplined for what happened and has filed a lawsuit.
Corey spoke about the video in an impromptu news conference on Wednesday evening after the video's release, accusing Shirk of blind siding her, calling it a political stunt. Corey said Shirk had since 2014 to bring the video up to her and didn't do so until Wednesday.
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"I'm absolutely questioning the timing and I'm absolutely standing here and saying that it was political, that it was a cheap trick and that Matt Shirk ought to be ashamed of himself," Corey said.
Corey also accused Shirk of working with one of her opponents, Wes White, and even said Shirk's employees had discs of the video at the ready for people at the debate.
After Corey's news conference, Shirk released the following statement to Action News Jax:
"That Ms. Corey can watch this video and see no crime is outrageous. It is she who should be ashamed of herself. That she routinely refuses to do the right thing in favor of substituting her own personal definition of justice is truly appalling. And if Ms. Corey was actually interested in being a responsible public servant she would indeed meet with me when I request meetings, as I routinely do and am completely ignored by her. For her to suggest that me reaching out to her is the 'proper channel' is laughable. Ms. Corey is the one who refuses to meet with me. Even when Nassau County Administrative Judge Robert Foster asked her to do so in a meeting with among others Clay County Administrative Don Lester and Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Mark Mahon, Ms. Corey stated 'I will not meet with Mr. Shirk.' Unlike Ms. Corey colluding with attorney Kenny Leigh to close her primary to the African-American population of the Fourth Circuit, my concern for a battered African-American youth isn't political. It's about right versus wrong. It's about real justice. Not Angela Corey's definition of what she thinks it should be."
Assistant State Attorney Rich Mantei, who was assigned to the case in 2014, said the video doesn't show Ezell was kicking the officer, destroying property and that officers had to subdue him and put a spit mask on him.
Mantei said this was well-documented from the paramedics who had to come in and take a look at Ezell to try to subdue him as well.
No criminal complaints were filed against the officer in the video as a result of this incident, so Corey said she didn't even know about this case because she only finds out about integrity cases involving officers or corrections officers.
JSO released a statement on the release of the video:
"Until such time as this case is resolved in the courts, we cannot comment any further."
This comes on the heels of another recent claim of police brutality. A Jacksonville sheriff’s officer was arrested after he was caught punching a handcuffed woman repeatedly at the jail intake.
Cox Media Group
