Florida cops were in the midst of conducting a drug bust at a Jacksonville convenience store when they pounced on a man who entered the store – who had nothing to do with the drug suspects – and slammed him against a shelf, then grabbed him and forced him into a back room where they repeatedly punched him.
Jacksonville sheriff’s officers then charged Demarcus Brown with trespassing and resisting arrest with violence.
However, surveillance video shows the cops were the only ones who were violent.
The incident took place Monday as Brown was sitting in his car outside the store waiting for his father who was inside buying a drink.
Brown noticed cops entering the store and decided to walk inside to make sure his father was all right.
A video from an outside surveillance video shows a cop pointing at Brown as he walks in, apparently talking to him, but Brown doesn’t seem to hear or see him.
But that is what prompted the cop on the outside to run after Brown after he had stepped inside and grab him from behind, shoving him against a counter, then throwing him against a shelf, causing food items to spill.
That, of course, prompts other cops to jump in and grab him in a headlock where they force him into a back room – perhaps thinking there would be no camera there – where they proceed to repeatedly punch him.
It’s almost like a scene out of Goodfellas except the thugs are the ones wearing badges.
News4Jax, which broke the story, blurred out the faces of the cops, even though their names and faces should be made public.
This is what Brown told reporters:
“I’m trying to cover my face so they won’t hit me in my face. Then they pushed me in the back room and get me on the ground, get me in a choke hold. I tell them, ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.’ I said like three or four times,” Brown said. “Finally they let go, then another officer hit me in the head twice.”
News4Jax also resorted to former cop Gil Smith, who is their in-house police apologist, who said Brown erred when he failed to heed the police order not to go inside, even though we are not even sure it was much of a command considering Brown doesn’t appear to hear it.
“He sees a bunch of police run in there with guns in their hands. Even though he may have been warned, he wants to go and check on his father. So I can understand someone wanting to do that. But still, you have to obey what police are saying,” Smith said.
The article states that internal affairs is reviewing the footage, which will determine if the cops were out of line.
But it is clear they did considering Brown was never a threat to anybody, no matter how hard they will try to spin the truth and tell us he was a threat.
The video cannot be embedded, so click here to watch it.
