JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters on Wednesday took aim at a local pastor and a Jacksonville woman who claimed that she was treated poorly by officers following a crash last year.
Waters, who was clearly incensed during an afternoon news conference, defended the actions of his officers and showed body camera footage that he said directly refutes the claims made by Emogene King last week.
“The administrative review of the officers in this case found no misconduct of any kind,” Waters said.
King addressed the media on Friday along with Pastor R. L. Gundy.
During the news conference, the 30-year-old mother said she was injured in a single-car crash in December, and she alleged poor treatment by the JSO officers who responded to the scene.
King spent 17 days in the hospital, and now months later, recovery is challenging.
“I felt like a criminal, like I did something wrong,” King said. “When I hear people yelling, I just, I kind of freak out because I never thought that I’d go through something like that.”
King said JSO officers yelled at her during the incident, but Waters said body camera video showed officers had very limited interactions with King as the Florida Highway Patrol was the responding agency.
She also claimed that JSO wrongly conducted a DUI investigation against her following the 1:40 a.m. crash Dec. 3 on I-10. But Waters said neither JSO nor FHP conducted a DUI investigation.
“JSO only conducts breath tests of adults in DUI investigations post-arrest and inside the Duval County Jail. Roadside breath tests are only conducted when a juvenile or commercial driver is suspected of drinking and driving,” Waters said.
King also said that her mother was refused access to her at the scene of the crash. Video showed her at the scene, clearly upset, and a JSO officer could be seen in the video asking the mother to move her car out of the road to prevent a secondary crash and stay away from her daughter while JFRD addressed her injuries. JSO said she was advised that it would be best if she met her daughter at the hospital.
Pastor Gundy said last week he’s tried to have conversations with Sheriff Waters but nothing worked out, which is why he called the news conference.
Waters said he agreed to meet with Gundy but the pastor refused to come to his office.
“I don’t want to be around all your officers. I just want you to sit down and have a conversation about all of this,” Gundy said Friday.
Gundy said he and others will be putting together a citizen review board that will take concerns from citizens and ask the Human Rights Commission, the State Attorney, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and even the Justice Department to investigate.
Waters, who said he’s strongly against a citizen review board, accused Gundy of “pushing an anti-police narrative” filled with politically driven false allegations.
Pastor Gundy held a news conference with King on Wednesday to address Waters’ comments earlier in the day.
King maintained officers accused her of being drunk and told her to take a breathalyzer before the BWC was turned on, and Gundy said the second demand for a breathalyzer was at the hospital.
King said on Wednesday the crash knocked her out, and when she came to, she didn’t remember what happened, but officers were yelling at her. She said she isn’t making this up and has no agenda, other than wanting JSO to do what’s right.
Gundy said he hasn’t seen the videos released by JSO, but stood by the statements he made on Friday.
“I don’t always tell the whole thing right up front because I knew they were going to try and counter what was going on. I don’t want them trying to discredit this young lady because she wouldn’t lie to me. She has not lied to me. And I don’t believe the whole truth has been told. There’s always more to a video than what they show you.”
Gundy added that he is not “anti-police.”
“I used to work for the FBI, so why would I be anti-police? I just want them to do their job with integrity. This has nothing to do with them being a police officer,” he said.
