NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. — A Nassau County corrections officer is charged with battery after he grabbed an inmate, slammed him to the wall and shot him with his stun gun. The sheriff’s office released the details Wednesday morning.
Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said Joshwa Edsall, 27, was fired after a complaint interview. He was hired in March and was still on probation. Action News Jax has also learned that the state attorneys office is involved.
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The sheriffs office said in early October, Edsall was responding to a disturbance in the jail caused by an inmate who didn’t want to be around other people and wanted his own jail cell. The sheriffs office said Edsall used pepper spray on the inmate to gain control and as the inmate was wiping his face, the officer grabbed him by his shoulder and threw him into the concrete wall, causing head and facial injuries.
Edsall then “drove his knee” into the inmates back and used his stun gun on the inmate while another deputy handcuffed him. The inmate had to be taken to the hospital.
During the interview, Edsall told investigators “he knew he crossed the line,” according to the sheriffs office. According to the arrest report, he was charged with battery and had a $1,500 bond.
Read: ‘He lost control’: Nassau deputy arrested, fired for battery on an inmate, sheriff says
”There’s a thing called assumption of risk,” said Dale Carson, Action News Jax Law and safety expert with years of experience in the FBI and law enforcement.
”In a circumstance like this, you might expect to be pepper-sprayed if you were not behaving correctly within the standards of law enforcement in a corrections facility; but you certainly wouldn’t experience the combination of physical injury being thrown into a wall, being Tased and pepper-sprayed.
Obviously, this is not what we would expect from our employees. When we take people into our custody, they should expect a safe and professional environment, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated. The expectation is that our members of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office exhibit the highest level of professionalism. We are disappointed by this outcome and the proper punishment in this case is arrest and termination of employment. For some reason Edsall let his temper take control and take over. He lost control and he lost his job. When he was called in for a complaint interview he said he was expecting it because he knew he crossed the line. Per our agency’s policy an officer can only use that force which is necessary to overcome the resistance. In this case he used unnecessary and excessive force to control the situation of an inmate. I’m not going to tolerate bad behavior by our citizens and I’m not going to tolerate bad behavior by our employees. It’s unfortunate that someone would decide to lose his job and his career, but that’s exactly what he did.
— Sheriff Leaper
Edsall has since bonded out of jail and the sheriffs office has not released the name of the inmate. The corrections officer previously worked for the state Department of Corrections.
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Carson says the incident will now be memorialized on Edsall’s record.
”This would be leveled against his certification and may result in the fact that he’s never hired again as a corrections officer in Florida.”
Carson says if convicted of the criminal offense of battery, it could carry a five-year prison sentence.
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