Misconduct In My Case

This is a post to delve deep into misconduct with both Escambia & Santa Rosa County Sheriff Departments in Florida. Not only in my case, but misconduct I witnessed when I was in jail for 2 weeks.

Mostly everyone knows that I was arrested on 30 January 2015. The charges? Grand Larceny, Grand Theft Firearm, Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle. These are all 3rd Degree Felonies in the states of Florida, the lowest degree of a felony. I'm currently waiting for my deal to be finalized, which is deferred prosecution.

I was sitting outside Tractor Supply on 9 Mile Road in Pensacola, FL when an individual walked by and said something to me really quick. I responded and he looked as if he was continuing on walking away. I then went back to looking at twitter on my phone when the same guy ran up behind me and grabbed my arms. Keep in mind, he had not announced himself at first. Did not tell me who he was or why he was doing what he was doing. So I could've thought he was anybody. About 15 seconds after he grabbed me and started patting me down, another individual who didn't announce himself ran up on me with his gun drawn and pointed right at my face. At that moment 6 Escambia County Sheriffs Office SUVs sped up on us and almost a dozen uniformed deputies hopped out with all guns drawn and pointed at me, again at the head. That is when the detective decided to tell me who he was and why he was there. An active felony warrant out of Santa Rosa County. I kept asking him what it was for and what I was being charged with but he kept on refusing to tell me. He kept saying "Where is the gun at?" He had not once read me my rights, and to this day nobody besides the judge for the bail hearing has read me my rights. No police officer or any other state official. So, I decided to not say a thing. He repeated himself over and over again. At this point I'm in cuffs. Never once during the encounter did I struggle or even seem like I was resisting or running away. Every cop there, with the exception of the detective that cuffed me and the Sergeant, continued to have their guns pointed at me, when I'm being calm and I'm in handcuffs. I'm not going anywhere. So what's the need with the guns? After about 15 minutes, I finally answered the detectives one and only question just to get him to shut up. Almost immediately and simultaneously, every single gun was lowered. All it was was an intimidation tactic. Never once during this encounter did they tell me what the warrant was for and what I was being charged with. I found all of that out when I went to my bail hearing via video court the next morning.

Fast forward to mid February 2015. At this point I was bailed out by a good friend of mine and one of my lawyers, Kim Picazio. I had told my parents not to post my bail as they were already paying out a lot of money for a local criminal lawyer here. I had found out a few days after I got out that the police reports provided to both myself and my parents were not the reports that Santa Rosa County Sheriffs Office had on file. In fact, my dad had told me himself that a lot of the things in the reports given to us that he never once said. My lawyer had to go to the Sheriffs Office to get the full and real reports. The majority of the information that the responding officer and arresting officer put in the reports were completely false.

Fast forward to my last court date on 5 May 2015. I didn't find out about this court date until 4 May 2015. They failed to let my lawyer know and I never once received a phone call or anything in the mail for this court date. My lawyer found out the NIGHT BEFORE the court date and called to let me know. Keep in mind, I only had about 12 hours notice of the court date.



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Now, back to when I was in jail. I had witnessed something completely horrifying. Brutality at the hands of Correction Officers. An individual who I hung out with in jail was joking around with an officer and ended up calling him a bitch. This officer is known for joking with the inmates and just having an all around good time. Well, when my friend had said this the officers demeanor took a complete twist. Almost immediately the officer grabbed my friend by the front of the jump suit and yanked him out into the hall from the dorm. The officer pulled on the jumpsuit so hard that my friend was in the air and was slammed onto the ground. My friend then got up on his knees, immediately put his hands in the air, and continued to yell over and over "I'll go to the interview room! I'll go to the interview room!" The interview room is where they place unruly inmates for an allotted amount of time in the county jail. While my friend was screaming that statement and had his hands in the air, the officer decided to kick him in the back of the head. At this moment 4 other officers ran around the corner and all 5 started to mercilessly beat on him. He ended up in medical for a couple of days. He came back extremely bruised and had a couple of cracked ribs.

According to dozens of inmates I talked to while there, this is an extremely common occurrence at that jail. One that definitely needs to stop.