Jacksonville Sheriff Responds to Violent Arrests in Florida and Georgia

In one case, a fan can be heard threatening to kill an officer.

(This story has been updated to accurately reflect the latest information.)

Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters held an hour-long briefing Monday evening to provide context and officer body camera footage documenting the actions of his officers seen by millions in viral videos of their actions. physical tactics to subdue some violent fans on Saturday Florida-Georgia game at Everbank Stadium.

The Times-Union advises viewers of the accompanying videos to exercise caution due to violent content and strong language.

Previously, the sheriff’s office had been limited in its response. But the sheriff said Monday that an initial review by his professional standards department found no violations of policy by any of the officers involved.

“In this case, the cell phone camera footage that has been circulating since Saturday does not fully reflect the circumstances of these cases,” Waters said. “…Cell phone cameras did not record the events leading up to the arrests.”

This included threatening to kill one of the officers and attempting to take his gun.

He noted that this is another situation where partial videos are posted on social media showing the worst image.

“Once again we are seeing intentionally misleading video clips, lacking proper context, being posted on social media to create a false story,” the sheriff said.

He said the sheriff’s office has 128 officers and 12 inspectors working on the game. They arrested eight people and ejected 35. He said all but four complied with officers’ attempts to help “safety workers,” who are civilians monitoring the scene and sometimes calling in official law enforcement.

He identified the four as Walter O’Ryan Brown, 39, Michael Wayne Long, 58, Alexander Michael Long, 27, and Brandon Bowley. Bowley did not appear at the Duval County Jail, so his age and charges were unclear, but each of the others was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct while intoxicated, disorderly conduct and trespassing/failure to comply with order to leave. .

In one of the videos, the officers were identified as E.D. Kelly and DJ Bowers, and on the other – J. Anthony, J. S. Beasley and A. Catino. He noted that the black officer in the two videos is not the same person, as some have claimed. Waters said one of those officers in the first video also subsequently received death threats online.

“I don’t need context, the N-word,” the sheriff quoted the threat as saying. “You better hope I don’t find out who you are.” I will hunt for that N-word and kill them. I’m coming. Equalizer. I don’t give a damn who they are. I’m ready to start. putting bullets in them.”

What do the first Florida and Georgia police videos show?

Jeremy Williamson posted one of the videos on his instagram accounts.

He believes it all started when police tried to check a fan’s digital tickets, but the man said he paid for the seats and didn’t leave. When two officers try to get him to cooperate, they lose patience with him and one of the officers uses a stun gun on him. He can be seen grabbing the man’s shirt and pulling away.

He appears to knock off the stun gun’s spikes and is shot at again. He convulses, is pushed into a row of chairs and is punched several times by one of the officers, including with one of his hands handcuffed, as the video recorder apparently screams five times: “This is an assault”: “You can’t do this” do”. !” Other fans scream as he continues to struggle and the cops try to get him under control until he is handcuffed and bleeding from his head.

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“You will both lose your jobs,” says the voice behind the cell phone recorder. “…And you wonder why we don’t respect you all.”

Williamson told the Times-Union in a telephone interview Sunday that it was excessive and unnecessary.

“What we witnessed was 100% wrong,” he said. “This was police brutality. Regardless of the words that came out of this man’s mouth, there was absolutely no justification for what they did.”

In another video posted on X by user Tate Ohio at Barstool Tatetwo officers repeatedly punch and wrestle with two fans in the stands. One sits on top of a man on the stairs and punches him, while another punches the other man over and over while the fan hunches over and hugs the officer.

Other fans can be heard gasping and screaming, including someone shouting: “Why are you hitting him?”

The video does not show the circumstances leading to the use of force. The officers in both videos are wearing Jacksonville Sheriff’s uniforms.

What does the body camera video show during the first arrest in the Florida-Georgia game?

Jacob Vorpahl, chief of public responsibility and professional standards for the sheriff’s office, described each incident step by step. He started with Brown from Nassau County.

It all started with a stadium employee making sure people had the right tickets for where they were going. She asked several children to find their parents and return with tickets. When Brown arrived, he pushed the security officer away, accused her of kidnapping his children and threatened to kill her. So she turned to sheriff’s officers for help.

When Bowers and Kelly approach Brown and tell him he’s been kicked out, he immediately refuses to cooperate and says the employee assaulted him. He also tells the woman, “Remember what I told you: I either kill the cop or I don’t leave.” He also incites officers to “taser me.”

He says he did nothing wrong and continues to argue with them and refuse to cooperate, claiming that the employee was trying to kidnap his children. Bowers advises him that there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. But Brown responds, “I’m going to fuck you if I go back to jail, DJ Bowers.”

That’s about when Kelly uses a stun gun on him. This only worked for a short time as Brown became more aggressive and threatened Kelly: “Now you want some… pull out the gun.” This time, Bowers fires his taser and Kelly begins hitting Brown as they both struggle until they can handcuff him.

Vorpahl said officers attempted to use the minimum level of force necessary, but Brown continued to escalate the situation, causing officers to increase their use of force. He also said there were comments on social media about Kelly using the handcuffs as brass knuckles. He explained and demonstrated how the officer held the handcuffs so that parts of them were open on each side, but not wrapped up like brass knuckles.

Vorpahl testified how Brown pulled Kelly’s shirt so he couldn’t get away from him. He also emphasized that Brown tried to grab Kelly’s gun from its holster during the struggle, showing a video image of that circle.

What does the body camera video show during the second arrest in the Florida-Georgia game?

The second incident began when a security worker was told that three men—two Longs, who the Times-Union has learned are a father and son from Orange Park and a friend of Bowley’s—were particularly unruly, threatening and throwing themselves at people in the eyes. The security officer warned them several times that they would be kicked out. Another fan then approached the officer to help the safe worker.

The employee points to the three men and says he needs them. But the men still refuse despite the officer’s presence, and the father continues to ask why as he and his son point to others in front and behind them. Two other officers also arrive, but the father said he can be heard saying, “I’m not going.”

It then finally flashes as one of the officers tries to take the father away, and the son is seen jumping on the officer in what Worfal describes as a “bear hug.” A stun gun is used, but it is difficult to tell by whom.

The second responding officer’s body camera shows him trying to restrain his son and ordering him not to swing. My son repeatedly says, “I don’t swing.” The policeman puts him on the ground and pins one arm behind his back, while his son continues to scream: “I can’t move.” Finally he is in handcuffs.

Another man is seen getting involved and is initially pushed back by a fan behind him, but nothing else is shown.

“They were asked several times to leave without using force,” Forfal said. “On multiple occasions they remained in their positions, they wanted to discuss the situation, they did not want to comply with the commands of the officers… only then did it escalate to the use of force by JSO.”

It also showed how Michael Long assumed a fighting stance as the officer tried to grab him and pressed his hand to the attacker’s face, which was not visible in the video posted on social media.

Alexander Long, who was free with his father on $5,000 bail, referred the Times-Union to attorney George Fallis. He issued the following statement: “I am waiting for the sheriff’s office to conduct its investigation before making any comments on the case.”