An attorney released dash cam video on Friday that she believes captured Pinellas Sheriff’s deputies using excessive force while arresting her client back in May.
- Attorney releases dash cam video of deputies using excessive force
- Video shows deputies putting man in a chokehold & hitting his head
- Man was on the ground with his hands out during incident
- Arrest report said man resisted arrest
“We felt that it was really important that the public see this,” said attorney Michele Rayner. “To bring light to what’s going on in the sheriff’s department and to hold them accountable.”
The video shows deputies putting Jimarez Reed, 25, who’s on the ground with his hands out, into a chokehold. Deputies can also be seen striking the back of his head multiple times, pulling his dreadlocks and hitting him with handcuffs. At one point, the deputies allow a civilian to assist.
“He was prone is essentially the best way to describe that. He was on his belly his hands were out. What threat was he posing?” Rayner asked. “What was the need to put him in a chokehold? What was the need to keep punching him? What was the need to pull him back up by his dreads?”
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office declined our request for an interview stating the matter is under administrative review.
According to an arrest report, Reed refused to listen to deputies clear instructions to place his hands on his head and to stop running around his car. Reed also used his car as a blocking device to keep a deputy form detaining him and was resisting arrest by kicking a deputy in the legs, according to the report.
The incident happened on May 25, at 11:14 p.m., outside a home located at 7171 79th Street North near Pinellas Park. Rayner said her client was visiting his friend at a home when he was asked to leave because he had an issue with someone else at the home.
“They were like, ‘hey, you’ve got to leave,’” she said. “He’s like, ‘no, I want to clear the air’ type situation.”
Rayner said someone in the home called 911 and told the dispatcher Reed was armed with a gun.
“The 911 caller implied that he had a gun. He did not have a gun on his person,” she said. “There was a gun in the vehicle. I believe there’s some discrepancy if it was in the trunk or in his front seat. However, it was in a lock box.”
You can’t hear what Reed’s saying during the struggle because the deputy who arrived with the dash cam video rolling turned his mic off when the incident began and then turned it back on when it was essentially over. Rayner said she wants those two deputies fired for violating standard operating procedures during the arrest.
“Obviously, at the bare minimum deputies to be fired,” she said. “If you can’t behave appropriately, if you can’t follow standard operating procedures, why are you still on the force?”
Reed was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm, resisting an officer with violence and obstruction. The defendant has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Nov. 7.