A former Florida deputy sheriff has been charged with violating the rights of a suspect by using too much force. The allegation claimed that Jesse Terrell hit and kicked the suspect in the head, neck and shoulders.
According to ABC News, an ex-Florida deputy sheriff has been alleged with violating the rights of a suspect by inflicting excessive force. The condemnation claims that the 33-year old former Florida Deputy JesseTerrell hit and kicked the suspect in the head, neck and shoulders during their encounter in August 2014.
Suspect Derrick A. Price didn't fight back nor kick and threaten. He just allegedly knelt and then lay on the pavement, hands outstretched, when he was arrested by sheriff's deputies in a community south of Ocala.
Price is a 44-year old black wile the deputies are all white. When the video went viral, Price's attorneys released a statement asking people to calm down. "Mr. Price is satisfied with the efforts of the federal government to address the law enforcement conduct depicted on the video footage," Gainesville attorneys Michael Barbarette and Kevin Quirk stated in the joint statement via the Tampa Bay Times.
The video showed off the deputies kneeing, kicking and pummeling a prostrate man, with no sign of resistance, while one sat on his legs. Price suffered injuries such as facial abrasions, swollen and bruised ribs, but he was not hospitalized, claimed Chief Assistant State Attorney Rick Ridgway of the Marion County State Attorney's Office.
Just last year, the former deputy sheriff Terrell was fired from duty after a surveillance video of the encounter was made public, showing his actions of violating the rights of the unknown suspect. Moreover, four other deputies involved in the confrontation resigned from the police force. Two of the deputies have pleaded guilty and are allegedly cooperating with authorities for further investigation of the case.
On Wednesday, the Federal prosecutors stated that Jesse Terrell was indicted by a federal grand jury. And if Terrell will be found guilty and then convicted, Terrell will be facing up to 10 years in prison and a fine of the violation of the rights of the suspect up to $250,000, as reported by the StarTribune.
In the meantime, the case is being prosecuted by A. Lee Bentley III, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, which includes the Tampa Bay area, and Mark Blumberg and Maura White of the Office of Civil Rights' criminal division. Terrell's attorney, Charles Holloman,also stated via an email that Terrell is planning to plead not guilty.
