JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—Just two weeks after the release of video showing a Jacksonville Sheriff's Officer pummeling a handcuffed female inmate at the Duval County Jail, a new video surfaced—this one showing an officer slam a handcuffed juvenile's head into a wall.
The video, from 2014, shows Deandre Ezell stand up and appear to kick a table while handcuffed. In response, Officer David Stevens grabs and slams Ezell head first into a wall. Ezell is knocked unconscious. According to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed in the case, JSO subsequently charged Ezell with battery on a law enforcement officer. Those charges were later dropped.
The video was released by Public Defender Matt Shirk during a debate with State Attorney Angela Corey Tuesday. Shirk used the video to illustrate what he suggested was Corey's failure to discipline that police officer. Stevens did receive a 5 day suspension for his role in the incident.
The federal lawsuit, filed in January, names Stevens as a defendant, as well as fellow officer T.M. Helms and Sheriff Mike Williams.
Attorney Matt Kachergus, who is representing Ezell, told First Coast News he considers the video "horrendous."
“I think it’s horrendous anytime a juvenile suspect is shoved against a concrete wall." Asked if he thinks it's an unusual circumstance, he answered, "I hope it’s unusual. If it’s not unusual, it’s frightening.
Late last month, an officer was fired and arrested for repeatedly punching handcuffed female inmate Mayra Martinez while on jail surveillance video.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that the case with the juvenile in the video is moving through civil court, but would not confirm the identity of the arrestee.
"Until such time as this case is resolved in the courts we cannot comment any further," Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesperson Lauri-Ellen Smith said in an email.
Shirk released the following statement to First Coast News on Wednesday night:
"That Ms. Corey can watch this video and see no crime is outrageous. It is she who should be ashamed of herself. That she routinely refuses to do the right thing in favor of substituting her own personal definition of justice is truly appalling. And if Ms. Corey was actually interested in being a responsible public servant she would indeed meet with me when I request meetings, as I routinely do and am completely ignored by her. For her to suggest that me reaching out to her is the "proper channel" is laughable. Ms. Corey is the one who refuses to meet with me. Even when Nassau County Administrative Judge Robert Foster asked her to do so in a meeting with among others Clay County Administrative Don Lester and Fourth Circuit Chief Judge Mark Mahon, Ms. Corey stated "I will not meet with Mr. Shirk." Unlike Ms. Corey colluding with attorney Kenny Leigh to close her primary to the African-American population of the Fourth Circuit, my concern for a battered African-American youth isn't political. It's about right verses wrong. It's about real justice. Not Angela Corey's definition of what she thinks it should be."
First Coast News will update this story as more information becomes available.