Jacksonville Sheriff Responds to Florida-Georgia Violent Arrests

In one case, the fan can be heard threatening to kill the officer

(This story has been updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)

Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters led an hour-long briefing Monday night to provide context and footage of the officer-worn body camera in support of his officers’ actions seen by millions in their viral videos. physical tactics in subduing disruptive fans on Saturday Florida-Georgia game at EverBank Stadium.

The Times-Union advises that viewers of the attached videos exercise discretion due to their violent content and use of profanity.

The sheriff’s office had previously been limited in its response. But on Monday, the sheriff said an initial review by the Division of Professional Standards found none of the officers involved violated policy.

“In this case, the cell phone camera footage that has been circulating since Saturday does not comprehensively capture the circumstances surrounding these cases,” Waters said. “…Cellphone cameras did not capture the events that led to the arrests.”

This included threatening to kill one of the officers and trying to take his gun.

He noted that this is another situation where partial videos are published on social media showing the worst image.

“Once again, we are seeing intentionally misleading videos, devoid of proper context, spread across social media to drive a false narrative,” the sheriff said.

He said the sheriff’s office had 128 officers and 12 supervisors working the game. They arrested eight people and deported 35. He said all but four complied with officers’ attempts to help “safe workers,” who are civilians who watch things and sometimes require formal enforcement of the law.

He identified the four as Walter O’Ryan Brown, 39, Michael Wayne Long, 58, Alexander Michael Long, 27, and Brandon Boley. Boley did not appear at the Duval County Jail, so his age and charges were unclear, but the others were each charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer, disorderly intoxication-public disturbance and trespassing/defying an order of departure.

The officers were identified as ED Kelly and DJ Bowers in one of the videos and J. Anthony, JS Beasley and A. Catino in the other video. He noted that the black officer in the two videos is not the same individual that some people have claimed. Waters said one of those officers in the first video was also the subject of subsequent online death threats.

“I don’t need context, ‘N word,'” the sheriff quoted from the threat. “You better hope I don’t learn who you are. I’m going to hunt down this “N-word” and kill them. Wine. Equalizer. I don’t care who they are. I’m getting ready to start putting bullets in them.”

What do initial Florida-Georgia police videos show?

Jeremy Williamson posted one of the videos His Instagram accounts.

He believes it started with officers trying to check a fan’s digital tickets, but the man said he had paid for his seats and wasn’t leaving. As two officers try to get him to cooperate, they become impatient with him and one of the officers uses his Taser on him. He is seen grabbing the man’s shirt and he pulls away.

He appears to overpower the Taser barbs and is shot with them again. He has convulsions and is pushed into a row of chairs and hit repeatedly by one of the officers, including handcuffs on one of his hands, as the VCR yells “It’s an attack” “You can’t do this” five times . !” Other fans scream as he continues to struggle as officers try to take control of him until he is handcuffed and bleeding from the head.

Le’Keian Woods: Black suspect in viral arrest video hit 17 times by Jacksonville officers, report says

“You both lose your jobs,” says the voice behind the mobile recorder. “…And you wonder why we don’t respect you all.”

Williamson told the Times-Union in a phone interview Sunday that it was excessive and unnecessary.

“What we witnessed was 100 percent wrong,” he said. “It was police brutality. Regardless of the words that came out of that man’s mouth, there was absolutely no excuse for what they did.”

In another video posted on X by Ohio’s Tate at Barstool Tatetwo officers are seen repeatedly punching and fighting two fans in the stands. One is on top of a man on the stairs punching him and the other is punching another man repeatedly as the fan is hunched over with his arm around the officer.

Other fans can be heard gasping and screaming, including someone shouting “Why are you hitting him?”

The video does not show the circumstances that led to the use of force. The officers in both videos appear to be wearing uniforms from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

What does body cam video show in first Florida-Georgia arrest?

Jacob Vorpahl, commander of public accountability and professional standards for the Sheriff’s Office, described each incident step by step. It started with Brown, who is from Nassau County.

It started with a stadium worker making sure people had the right tickets for where they were going. She asked some children to find their parents and return with the tickets. When Brown arrived, he pushed the worker to safety and accused her of kidnapping her children and threatened to kill her. So he enlisted the help of sheriff’s officers.

When Bowers and Kelly approach Brown and advise him that he has been fired, he is immediately uncooperative and says the employee assaulted him. He also tells a woman, “Remember what I told you, I’m either going to kill a cop or I’m not going.” It also urges officers to “Tase me.”

He says he did nothing against the law and continues to argue with them and not cooperate, claiming the employee tried to kidnap his children. Bowers advises him that there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. But Brown replies, “I’m going to a—— if I go back to jail, DJ Bowers.”

Just then Kelly uses her Taser on him. This only worked briefly as Brown became more combative and threatened Kelly: “Now you want some… Get your gun out.” This time, Bowers fires his Taser and Kelly begins hitting Brown as the two struggle until they manage to handcuff him.

Vorpahl said the officers attempted to use the lowest level of force necessary, but Brown continued to escalate the situation, prompting the officers to escalate their use of force. He also said there had been some comments on social media that Kelly was using his cuffs like brass knuckles. He explained and demonstrated how the officer kept his cuffs with a portion exposed on each side, but not wrapped around like brass knuckles.

Vorpahl showed how Brown was pulling Kelly’s shirt so she couldn’t get away from him. He also pointed out that Brown tried to take Kelly’s gun from its holster during the fight, showing a video of it being holstered.

What does the body cam video show in the second Florida-Georgia game arrest?

The second incident began with a security worker who was tipped off about three men — the two Longs who the Times-Union has learned are an Orange Park father and son and friend Boley — who were particularly unruly, making threats and getting in front of people. The safety worker warned them several times that they would be ejected. Another fan then went to an officer to help the worker to safety.

The employee points to the three men saying he needs them outside. But the men still refuse, despite the officer’s presence, and the father continues to ask them why them, while he and his son point to others in front and behind them. The other two officers also arrive, but the father says he can be heard saying, “I’m not going.”

It then finally erupts when one of the officers tries to take the father away, and the son is seen jumping over the officer in what Vorphal describes as a “bear hug.” A Taser is used, but it’s hard to see who.

In the body room of the second responding officer, he tries to restrain the son and orders him not to swing. The son repeatedly says “I’m not swinging.” The officer holds him down and holds a hand behind his back as the son continues to scream, “I can’t move.” He is finally handcuffed.

The other man is also seen getting involved and initially knocked back by a fan behind him, but nothing else is shown.

“They were asked to leave several times without the use of force,” Vorphal said. “They repeatedly stayed in their seats, they wanted to negotiate the situation, they didn’t want to obey the officers’ commands … only then did it escalate in terms of the use of force by the JSO.”

He also showed how Michael Long assumed a fighting stance when the officer tried to arrest him and put his hand in front of the striking officer, which was not seen in the video posted on social media. socialization.

Alexander Long, who along with his father was released on $5,000 bond, referred the Times-Union to attorney George Fallis. He offered the following statement: “I am waiting for the sheriff’s office to conduct its investigation before making any further comment on the case.”