WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Inc. said the arrest of a 15-year-old boy on Thursday, July 7 was "unlawful" after a Polk County sergeant used a Taser to put the teen in handcuffs.
At a news conference in front of the sheriff's office, members of the BLM organization said they are calling for an investigation because they believe video taken by the 15-year-old's mother shows the teen did not pose an active threat to Sgt. Gaylord at the time the stun gun was used.
"We are calling for an independent investigation to determine why Sgt. Gaylord unlawfully deployed a taser," Pastor Carl Soto said, vice president and co-founder of BLM Restoration Polk Inc. "There is speculation that the boy was being physically violent at the time of her arrival, but his mother and the alleged victim had both apparently denied those allegations."
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Gaylord responded to a domestic violence call in Davenport between the teen and his 18-year-old girlfriend who was seven months pregnant. Before the sergeant arrived at the scene, the 15-year-old "slapped the victim an undetermined number of times in the face and chest," an arrest record stated.
In a media briefing of his own on Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he agreed with how the sergeant arrested the teen and that it was not the first time the 15-year-old had been arrested for a similar situation.
"Did the sergeant use appropriate force in the situation? Absolutely, and she was much more patient than I would have been in the same situation," Judd said. "He was involved in a domestic violence event where he was beating on his girlfriend, and it wasn't the first time because we arrested him in February for beating the same lady."
Judd released an audio recording of the interaction between the 15-year-old and Gaylord. A lot of yelling was heard in the altercation, and Gaylord said to the teen that she couldn't understand what he was saying.
Soto said the camera footage captured by the boy's mother shows the sergeant had the 15-year-old in a position where he could not have posed a threat before he was Tased.
"The camera footage that we do have clearly reveals that this young man was faced against the wall and his hand was already pushed up behind his back to the point where you can tell they were trying to subdue him," Soto said. "There was no struggling or violent signs from the boy as she (Gaylord) had his arm up."
People living in the Tampa Bay region may remember that Haines City Police Officer Brad Webster was hit by a Polk County Sheriff's deputy's cruiser while trying to respond to the reported domestic violence call. So, the 15-year-old boy is also being charged with culpable negligence over that.
Soto said Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Inc. will be contacting the state attorney and Department of Justice to launch an independent investigation into the matter.