JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville police officer was arrested Friday on a third-degree felony charge of official misconduct, Sheriff T.K. Waters said.
The arrest of Officer Cecil Grant, 36, was announced by the sheriff at a news conference.
In December, Waters said, Grant, a nine-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, responded to a call at a home, and an occupant was arrested.
When Grant’s body-worn camera footage was reviewed, as well as the bodycam video of another officer, investigators discovered the events depicted showed that the arrest report written by Grant was inaccurate and that there was no probable cause to arrest the occupant of the home, according to Waters. He said the charges have since been dropped against that man.
“The person should not have ever been arrested,” Waters said.
According to the arrest report for Grant, which News4JAX obtained after the news conference, the man was asleep in his bed when officers arrived and woke him up, and he demanded to know what they were doing in his house. According to that report, Grant had written that the man “put his hand on my shoulder and chest and pushed me backwards. Due to his size, I lost my balance and almost fell down.” But Grant’s supervisor looked at the bodycam and notified the JSO Integrity Unit because what Grant put in his report did not agree with the bodycam footage, the arrest report for Grant shows.
When asked why there was a difference between the narrative in the report and what actually happened, Waters said, “Apparently he just didn’t want to tell the truth at that point. That’s all that we can assume at this point.”
Waters said JSO investigators are working with prosecutors at the State Attorney’s Office on the case. He said the bodycam footage could be released “very soon,” pending the criminal investigation.
Duval County jail records show Grant has since been released following his arrest.
This was the first arrest of a JSO officer in 2023 and the first under Waters’ administration. Waters said they are disappointed following this arrest, but the agency will move forward as not even their officers are above the law.
UNCUT: Press the play button below to watch Sheriff T.K. Waters’ full news conference discussing the arrest of a police officer.
Back in 2014, Grant was involved in a fatal shooting after a traffic stop on the city’s Westside.
According to JSO, a man resisted arrest violently, and Grant stunned him several times to no effect. As the struggle went on, the Sheriff’s Office said, the man got the Taser away from Grant, and that’s when Grant shot him twice, killing him.
It was ruled justifiable.
News4JAX also learned that Grant had three internal affairs investigations in 2022. The first one was in April for an in-house complaint, and he received formal counseling. In June, he got a written reprimand for failing to conform to work standards. Then in July, he was blamed for a traffic crash where he got informal counseling and remedial training.