New video in the arrest of Mayra Martinez shows a third violent takedown stemming from her April 27 arrest.
Martinez’s case first made headlines when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced it was firing and filing criminal charges against Officer Akinyemi Borisade after jail surveillance video showed him pummeling a handcuffed Martinez in the jail’s intake port.
A second video followed – dashcam video showing a violent struggle in the parking lot of Scores gentlemen’s club, where Martinez was auditioning as a dancer. In that video, Borisade and Officer Nathan Vickery can be seen slamming her to the pavement and delivering knee strikes to her back.
On Thursday, Martinez’s attorney released a third video, as she was being processed into the jail. It shows a female corrections officer grabbing a naked Martinez by the hair and pulling her to the ground, before she is subdued by several male officers.
The release of the new video comes one day after the State Attorney’s Office announced it would not press felony charges against Officer Borisade. Prosecutor Richard Mantei issued a disposition report that said that Martinez’s injuries weren’t bad enough to warrant aggravated battery charges, only a misdemeanor battery charge. The report also suggested Martinez was an unreliable witness, since she had been drinking and using marijuana.
Martinez’s criminal defense attorney Reid Hart accused prosecutors of libeling his client, noting the report also detailed her history of mental illness, the fact that she suffered depression from a prior rape and an unrelated criminal record, including a DUI.
“She is the victim,” Hart told reporters. “I don’t think [the report] is anything more than a bare attempt by the State Attorney handling the case in which she is a victim to denigrate and humiliate her unnecessarily.”
Prosecutor Mantei disputed that. “Do I believe that I libeled her? I believe the disposition statement sets out a lot of facts. If somebody wants to file a libel claim, I suppose they will and we’ll see what happens. But so far that hasn’t happened.”
Martinez’s attorneys also released videos of officers Borisade and Vickers being interviewed by the JSO Integrity Unit. At one point, Borisade appears to cry, but later defends what he did. At one point he is asked about JSO’s “policy and procedures about suspects that are handcuffed.”
“Are we allowed to strike them?” a detective asks Borisade. “Yes sir,” he responds. The detective seems surprised by the answer. “In what way? Because she was handcuffed, correct?”
“Yes sir,” Borisade responds. “And did you strike her?” the detective clarifies. “Yes sir," Borisade answers.
In a videotaped interview with Officer Vickery, a detective suggests the takedown in the Scores parking lot isn't great optics for the department.
“You guys are landing on hard pavement,” he notes. “If you slam somebody’s head on a mat, it may not look as hard, but when you slam somebody’s head on the pavement – and you see it from a dashcam – it looks bad.”
Undersheriff Pat Ivey responded to the release of the additional video Thursday, saying that while the agency is reviewing to see if there were any policy violations, no criminal charges would be filed against the corrections officers in the video.
Martinez still faces felony charge of resisting arrest, as well as trespass charges stemming from the incident at Scores.