ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – A jury has been seated in the trial of an ex-deputy with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, seen on video beating a man during a December 2019 traffic stop.
Deputy Anthony DeLeo, who is charged with aggravated battery, was arrested after two videos recorded by a witness showed his use of force against Christopher Butler. The videos were given to Butler’s family, who turned them over to investigators.
DeLeo was fired from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.
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The family told News4Jax that Butler was severely injured by deputies after he was pulled over for driving 15 mph on Interstate 95.
Butler was brought in from prison Monday to testify. He was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for the incident in 2019 and began serving his sentence for eluding police in October 2020.
Butler was asked questions about the day back in late December 2019. He testified that he was sick and had been suffering from a bad cold.
Attorney: “Were you taking any medication?”
Butler: “Yes ma’am.”
Attorney: ”What kinds of medications were you taking?”
Butler: “Coricidin, Robitussin, Theraflu.”
Attorney: “How much of it did you take?”
Butler: “Enough to get the cold away.”
Attorney: “Is it fair to say that you took more than you were supposed to?”
Butler: “Yes ma'am.”
Attorney: “Was that intentional?”
Butler: “That night? Yes.”
Attorney: “So you were doing it to get high, is that a fair statement?”
Butler: “Yes ma'am.”
When asked if he’d had any alcohol to drink that day, Butler testified “early that morning.” He said that at around 1 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2019, he was driving back toward the home on 210 to collect some of his child’s belongings.
Attorney: “Should you have been driving that night?”
Butler: “Against better judgement, no ma’am.”
When asked if he remembers all the details of the night in question, Butler said no. But when asked if he remembered seeing lights and hearing sirens from a cruiser, he said yes.
Attorney: “Did you pull over right away?”
Butler: “No.”
Attorney: “Why not?”
Butler: “I wanted to proceed to a safer location so my girlfriend could get her car.”
Video of his arrest, captured by a witness and a state trooper’s dash camera, shows that over a nearly four-minute span DeLeo hit Butler 19 times with his baton, and kicked him in the head twice, while Butler was sitting on the ground offering little resistance.
After DeLeo hit and kicked Butler, minimal effort was made to handcuff Butler, according to a warrant affidavit.
“Based on the actions of (DeLeo), the gratuitous amount of force applied and the extent of injuries sustained by the victim; probable cause was established for the charge of aggravated battery,” the warrant affidavit stated.
According to authorities, Butler would not cooperate during a traffic stop.
After he was pulled over on County Road 210, a witness captured what happened next on his cellphone and shared it with Butler’s family. Teri Morgenstern, Butler’s mother, shared the video with News4Jax.
In the video, Butler can be heard screaming and moaning when he was shocked with a Taser several times. Later in the video, DeLeo comes at him with a baton.
“My nose was broke four times, my shoulder blade was fractured, my elbow was broken multiple times,” Butler told the court about the injuries he sustained.
In the report from the Sheriff’s Office, investigators said Butler was being uncooperative and was not responding to commands. They believed he was on drugs because it appeared to them the Taser had no effect, according to the report.
Prosecutor: “Did you roll around and try to take the prongs out of your body?”
Butler: “Yes sir.”
Prosecutor: “And when you did that, you observed the look in the law enforcement officer’s face as you were doing so?”
Butler: “Yes sir.”
Prosecutor: “And you have a specific recollection of how that astounded the officer, do you not?”
Butler: “It didn’t astound him. It put him in a fit of rage.”
After mentioning some of the injuries Butler said he sustained, the prosecutor said, “You were feeling no pain that night?”
Butler: ”A lot of pain that night, sir.”
Prosecutor: “You were feeling a lot of pain, yet, what was it, six tazing cycles didn’t stop you?”
During cross examination, Butler denied ever biting or fighting the deputy, but he could not recall if injuries to his face could have been the result of falling to the pavement after being tazed.
Prosecutor: “So, you only recall the good things about your position and not the bad things? Is that the truth?”
Butler: “If that’s the way you want to state it sir.”
Prosecutor: “You had repeated commands to put your hands behind your back. And you didn’t do it. Is that the truth?”
Butler: “I had repeated commands to do it, sir. I didn’t have much time to abide or comply to their demands.”
Butler then gave further clarification to his statement.
“I would like to say I didn’t have sufficient amount of time to comply with their demands between the severe pain I was suffering at the time and the affects of the cough medicine,” Butler said.
Attorney John Phillips, representing Butler, has said his client was going through a medical episode when he was pulled over.
