JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In a new federal lawsuit, a photographer claims she was arrested, handcuffed and struck in the head by an officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office during the May 31 protests against police brutality in downtown Jacksonville.
Charges against the woman and 47 other protestors were dropped by State Attorney Melissa Nelson.
The attorney filing suit claims the use of force is not isolated, but “part of a longstanding practice by JSO.”
It’s the latest example of demonstrators from the May protests in Jacksonville filing a lawsuit against the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office.
In a 15-page lawsuit filed Wednesday, the 28-year-old woman claims during Sunday’s peaceful protest on the courthouse lawn officers with the Sheriffs Office “slammed” her on the sidewalk and she was “struck on the head by JSO officers.”
Attorneys said the woman “woke up and was at” UF Hospital with gauze in her ear from a blow to the head.
Incident reports from the day say the woman was taken to UF Health due to head pain.
The arrest reports from JSO said she was seen “standing on the sidewalk on the northside of the courthouse after the order to leave had been given.”
She began to walk away but was arrested anyway. The federal lawsuit claims the woman “engaged in constitutionally protected speech by photographing and participating in the protests” and was “retaliated against.”
The suit also claims the sheriff’s office “exhibit[s] a widespread custom, practice, and/or policy of applying excessive force against individuals, even outside the context of protests.”
The lawsuit references as many as 17 examples of excessive force dating back to 2004.
This is not the first lawsuit JSO has faced since the arrests of dozens of demonstrators over the course of two days of protests in May.
Since the protests, the State Attorney’s Office dropped charges against 48 protestors charged with unlawful assembly.
In August, four of the demonstrators arrested during the protests were awarded $100,000 by a federal judge after alleging the sheriff’s office violated their first amendment rights.
The Sheriffs Office said “JSO does not comment on litigation.”
JSO did not answer our questions asking whether the officer accused of striking the woman was currently or ever under review or investigation.
But JSO did say the officer named in the lawsuit, who allegedly struck the woman, is still a current employee of JSO.