JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The arrest of Le’Keian Woods and the viral video showing him being taken into custody sparked outrage with some members of the community because of the violent measures officers used to subdue him. Now his family’s attorneys said they’ve sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) calling on the agency to investigate the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
JSO maintains its officers followed procedures, but this is not the first time the feds have been called in to investigate the actions of JSO officers.
When attorneys for the family of Woods spoke in front of JSO headquarters on Tuesday, they called the agency an “orchard of bad apples” and included Sheriff T.K. Waters in that statement.
“We’ve already got an appeal in line to Washington D.C., Department of Justice. Because when you see the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigate themselves, with the deal they’ve got with the State Attorney’s Office here. Because you would think the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would come in. Because in Georgia the GBI would come in to investigate,” Attorney Harry Daniels said.
It’s unclear how effective that request will be but this isn’t the first time JSO has been under the federal microscope.
A recent high-profile case involved Mayra Martinez.
Martinez was recorded in 2019 being punched in the stomach while in custody at the Duval County jail.
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The case wound up in front of a federal judge who said the case “demonstrated JSO officers have, since 2004, engaged in the practice of using excessive force on Jacksonville residents. These incidents illustrate that the city repeatedly took no corrective steps to remedy the officers’ actions.”
In 2016, there was the case of Vernell Bing who was shot by JSO.
At the time, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams asked the FBI to investigate. The State Attorney’s Office eventually deemed the shooting justified. The DOJ was also petitioned in that case but a ruling from the agency was never released.
That same year there was also the case of Keith Crowder who was shot during a traffic stop. In that case, local activist groups asked for the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate.
Another high-profile case came in 2004 and involved Sammy Evans who died after being subdued by a rookie officer. After four years, News4JAX finally got a response from the Justice Department that the results of its investigation were exempt and an answer to what it found was never provided.
JSO responded to calls for DOJ to investigate Woods’ arrest and continued to say its officers did not do anything wrong.
“The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is fully committed to transparency. We welcome any inquiry by the Department of Justice into this case and JSO policy and practices. Likewise, we are confident that federal law enforcement officials will share our conclusion that our officers acted appropriately in regard to the law and administrative policy,” JSO said in a statement.