JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating an arrest after a video went viral on social media showing a man in handcuffs with bloodied facial injuries. The family of the man, identified as 24-year-old Le’Keian Woods, claims that he was brutally beaten by police during the arrest.
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The incident captured video shows several JSO officers arresting Woods. It should be noted the video doesn’t provide context regarding what lead up to the arrest.
Woods had been arrested on Friday, September 29, on multiple charges, including trafficking methamphetamine and cocaine while armed, as well as violently resisting an officer.
The family stated that the incident started as an alleged traffic stop for not wearing a seatbelt when he was with two other people in the car near their grandmother’s home.
After the handcuffs were put on, the video shows officers slamming Woods into the ground. Later, you see that officers appear to try and pick him up but Woods emerged from the encounter with visible injuries, including a swollen and bloody face.
Woods’ family has retained civil rights attorney Harry Daniels, who released the following statement:
“If this video of the officers repeatedly assaulting Le’Keian, slamming his head into the ground and tossing him around like a ragdoll while he’s handcuffed and defenseless isn’t enough to convince you that these officers need to be off the street, just look at Le’Keian’s face,” Daniels said. “He looks like he just went 12 rounds with a professional boxer. He’s lucky to be alive.”
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Sheriff TK Waters announced that the case is under administrative review.
“Every allegation of misconduct or excessive force, every single one, is taken seriously. We will review the body cams and eventually, you will see the body cams and you’re going to see contextual information start to finish. You won’t see a clip of a video that loops over and over again. You will see the video in context but we have to have a full and complete investigation,” Waters said.
Action News Jax Dale Carson, a criminal defense attorney and law enforcement expert, who served in the FBI, offered insights into the arrest.
“After he is handcuffed properly, then it’s over. The fight should be over, the resistance should be over, and if you continue to force compliance by actually hurting the individual to assure compliance by slamming into the ground or something of that nature, that’s not in the training manual,” Carson stated.
Right now, it’s unclear when JSO will release the body camera footage.
Carson said he doesn’t think the traffic stop has anything to with a seatbelt, saying it may have been part of a planned operation.
Action News Jax is working to learn more information and gather more details as the investigation continues.
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