JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After surviving a brutal attack while on duty outside a Walmart on Philips Highway in 2023, Officer Jennifer Scott has endured physical, emotional, mental, professional and financial struggles.
Scott, who continues to work for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office but can no longer be a patrol officer because of her injuries, described her painful journey over the last three years during a victim impact statement she shared at a hearing Tuesday for her attacker, Joseph Merrill.
“The attack has severely altered my life, devastated my family and compromised my future,” Scott said in court. “While I accepted the inherent risk of wearing a badge, no officer should ever have to endure the level of violence inflicted upon me.”
Merrill pleaded guilty on May 13 to aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, carrying a concealed weapon by a convicted felon, resisting an officer with violence, depriving an officer of means of protection or communication, and felony petty theft.
As part of Merrill’s plea agreement, he will spend 28 years in Florida State Prison.
Despite what Scott endured, Merrill heard her say during Tuesday’s hearing: “Today I choose to forgive the defendant because I refuse to let my life be defined by anger.”
After she spoke, Scott, a mother of three, watched as Merrill was led out of the courtroom to begin his sentence.
Violent assault
On Feb. 23, 2023, Officer Scott responded to a shoplifting call at the Walmart on Philips Highway.
That’s where she first encountered Merrill.
(Note: At the time of the attack, Scott went by Officer Jennifer Johnson, but she has since married and changed her last name, which News4JAX will use moving forward.)
Scott said that when she approached Merrill in the parking lot about the shoplifting report, he suddenly punched her in the mouth, knocking her to the ground.
At that moment, JSO Sgt. Steven Rudlaff happened to be driving by the business on his way to work and saw the sucker punch.
And what came next.
“I was driving this way, and I looked over, I was like, ‘Oh, she’s got somebody stopped.’ Next (thing) I know, he punches her in the face. She falls down, and he’s punching her,” Rudlaff said previously.
Rudlaff saw Merrill jump on top of Scott on the ground and continue to pummel her. The sheriff later said Merrill had also tossed Scott’s radio away from her during the beating -- making it impossible for her to call for help.
Other officers who responded after Rudlaff caught the aftermath on their body cameras.
“I was comin’ this way,” Rudlaff says while pointing on the body cam. “I saw him start punching. I f***ing pulled across the median and left my car in the middle of the road!”
Merrill ran when he saw Rudlaff, but was taken into custody after a foot chase.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said Rudlaff’s intervention is credited with saving Johnson’s life because, according to prosecutors, Merrill “was on top of the police officer, bashing her head in.”
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The force of the blows actually shifted Scott’s bottom teeth into two rows, although her adrenaline was so high that at first, she didn’t realize the extent of the damage to her mouth.
That damage is still being repaired three years later, Scott explained Tuesday in court.
“I continue to undergo surgeries and medical treatments with no end in sight,” she said. “This was not an injury from which I could simply recover and move on.”
Emotional toll
Scott said during her statement Tuesday that she is reminded of the attack every single day. She said her peace of mind was altered and her confidence was shaken.
“While some of my physical pain limitations, exhaustion, and scars are visible to others, the deepest trauma remains unseen,” Scott said.
She said she is most concerned, though, about the effect her assault has had on her children.
“This attack stole irreplaceable time for my children, fundamentally changing the way they see the world and the way I move through it,” Scott said. “It has been heartbreaking to watch them witness my suffering, my recovery, and the uncertainty that followed this attack.”
Scott said her career was also permanently altered.
“I was forced to change the course of my professional life and have not been able to work as a patrol officer. Losing that part of my identity has been deeply difficult,” Scott told the court.
But she said what’s important to her is that she’s still standing as a survivor.
“While I still carry the profound effects of this attack, I also carry the strength borne from surviving it. I am deeply proud of the resilience I have demonstrated through this painful process,” Scott said. “My scars are a reminder not only of what I endured, but of what I have overcome.”