JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — An officer being accused of excessive force during a traffic stop previously punched a handcuffed suspect, as shown in body camera footage obtained by First Coast News.
As reported Thursday, a local military veteran claims he was racially profiled by Jacksonvillle Sheriff’s Officer Justin Peppers whom, he says, used excessive force during a November traffic stop.
The same officer was the subject of a First Coast News investigation, after a restraining order was taken out against him. They said his demeanor was aggressive and frightening when he wrote them three tickets for illegal tint in two months -- including one he delivered to their doorstep. (The restraining order was dissolved by a judge days later who said Peppers was acting within his role as a police officer.)
A review of Peppers' discipline history shows 12 citizen complaints over five years, but just one that was “sustained” by Internal Affairs investigators.
Police investigators also reviewed a use of force incident in September 2019, when Peppers responded to a domestic battery call on the Eastside.
The suspect, who’d already been cuffed and tasered (for resisting arrest), refused orders to get in a squad car and, Peppers said, appeared prepared to spit. After pushing him in the car, Peppers struggled to place a spit mask on him, ultimately punching him in the face, twice.
“Stop, this is recording,” says an officer behind him, referencing his body camera. “Don’t punch him … Let him go, let him go Peppers. Peppers let him go. Don’t punch him.”
The officer asks Peppers if the man spit on him.
“He spit all over my f**king car. He was trying to, until I smeared his f**king face in my door. That’s the only reason he didn’t.”
A second officer, in a placating voice, says, “Alright alright alright.”
The first officer repeats, “It’s recording.”
“I’m good with that,” Peppers says. “I haven’t done anything that’s against policy.”
JSO Internal Affairs agreed with Peppers, saying the incident was “within policy.” But crime and safety analyst Mark Baughman thinks it was inappropriate.
“I understand why he might have been angry. But you can't lose your cool like that,” Baughman said. “I can see why they put spit mask on him, but striking him may not be appropriate – or, isn't appropriate.”
Peppers made no mention of the punches he delivered in the incident report, saying only that he “restrained” and “turned” the suspect’s head to keep him from spitting on officers. But in a subsequent response to resistance report, he acknowledges delivering “two hammer fist strikes to his forehead.”
JSO and the officer did not respond to a request for comment. Baughman notes that Peppers works on a task force in a high-crime neighborhood, and as such, is likely to have more complaints and difficult arrests. But he says repeated complaints against any officer should prompt JSO officials to pay attention.
“He’s had some incidents leading up to this, which sometimes makes you look at it from a supervisory standpoint -- and maybe even from higher than just the immediate supervisor. Reviewing where he is, and how long has he been there, and ‘Do we need to put him somewhere else to give him a little bit of a break? To get him maybe even some de-escalation training again?' Might be appropriate.”