A North Florida sheriff’s deputy was captured on video tackling a drunk man, then punching him repeatedly on the side of the head.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said Jonathan Thomas Dixon was resisting arrest which led to the beating but the video shows that all he did was instinctively pull his arm away after the deputy grabbed it from behind in an attempt to fold his hand down in one of those pain compliance tactics they love to use.
The incident took place Saturday on Pensacola Beach during the Blue Angels Air Show, according to WKRG 5 News.
The sheriff’s office said it was responding to a call of a man beating a woman, striking her five to six times. The man, Jonathan Thomas Dixon, 22, was visibly drunk and his blood alcohol content was later determined to be more than three times the legal limit.
When the deputy arrived, Dixon was in the water and began cursing at the deputy and at the crowd around him. They said he began wrestling with the deputy in the water and resisting arrest violently, according to WEAR TV.
The video begins recording as the deputy is leading Dixon out of the water so it does not capture what took place beforehand.
Some of the commenters on the Facebook video where it has gone viral believe the man deserved to be struck by the cop because the man had struck the woman earlier. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to work under the Constitution.
Dixon was charged with battery on a law enforcement, battery and resisting arrest with violence.
