JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man who was improperly stripped-searched by police in the middle of a public street while bystanders watched nearby settled a federal lawsuit with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and the city for $275,000, according to court records, The Triburary, a nonprofit news organization in Jacksonville, reported Thursday.
RELATED | JSO officers disciplined for strip-searching man during arrest in 2022
Recommended Videos
In September 2022, police forced the man, who was then 45, to bend over a truck as they yanked his pants down, exposing him in front of his aunt and others while JSO officers conducted a prolonged search for drugs they believe were hidden “up his ass.”
News4JAX is not naming the man because the charge against him was dropped.
The three officers who stripped the man didn’t find any drugs on him but arrested him for possession anyway. Jailers did a more thorough search of the man and also didn’t find any drugs. Despite that, the State Attorney’s Office spent more than a year pressing him to accept a plea agreement that would have sent him to prison for four years before eventually dropping the charge.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into the arrest the next year, prompted by The Tributary’s reporting on the arrest. In it, the department concluded that the two officers who stripped the man – Joel Belgard and Nicholas Hackley – broke JSO policy. City attorneys said that although they would have defended the search, the man would “likely have been permitted to present evidence that the officers’ conduct violated both JSO policy and Florida Statutes,” according to a memo written last month to Mayor Donna Deegan. In sum, the attorneys said, his lawsuit “carried significant risks as a judge and jury could have found that, under the circumstances of this case, the officers’ conduct was unreasonable and unconstitutional”
MORE | Jacksonville man suing sheriff, 3 JSO officers for alleged K9 bite during 2023 traffic stop
The man had initially sought $1 million from the city.
A Florida statute requires strip searches to be done in a private place where no one else can see, and officers must obtain permission from a supervisor. JSO’s policy says only jail employees can strip-search suspects. Experts told The Tributary in 2022 that the man’s arrest appeared problematic.
Both Belgard and Hackley said they didn’t know pulling down or manipulating the man’s pants was considered a strip search because they had never received training on that type of search before. The report showed at least one other officer – an undercover cop – had also not received the training.
Other officers interviewed by internal affairs either weren’t asked about training or their responses were redacted due to being undercover.
“I believed a strip search was having someone take off their clothing, like completely removing it,” Belgard said. “At the time, I would not have called it a strip search. Looking back at orders and state statute, I would call that a strip search.”
The Tributary asked JSO in April if the outcome of the investigation resulted in additional training for officers, but the department did not respond. Instead, JSO sent a statement to First Coast News saying, in part, “all police officers receive training concerning searches, to include that strip searches are to be performed by corrections officers rather than police officers.”
News4JAX emailed JSO to ask for a comment on the settlement and it responded with this statement: “After the incident involving Mr. ---- was brought to the attention of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, an internal affairs investigation was conducted. The officers involved in the misconduct were found to be in violation of department policy and received discipline as a result. Mr. ---- filed a lawsuit against the City and the officers involved. The parties reached a settlement resolving this matter in a manner that is mutually agreeable to all. We will continue to hold Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office employees accountable for any misconduct.”
The settlement is at least the third agreed to by Waters after he lobbied Jacksonville City Council members last year to enact a new and rare law that requires all lawsuit settlement agreements involving JSO be approved by him or the city council president.
Nichole Manna is The Tributary’s Senior Investigative Reporter. She covers criminal justice and you can reach her at nichole.manna@jaxtrib.org.
