LAKELAND, Fla. — In 2022, a Lakeland man was violently arrested after what was originally a traffic stop for not wearing a seatbelt. A year and a half later, the charges against him were dropped.
Now, he is again facing charges after being arrested by the same officer from the previous incident who pulled him over for not wearing a seatbelt and drug-related charges.
Antwan Glover, 38, was arrested just before 6 p.m. Friday for allegedly possessing cannabis, drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence. Detective Dillion Cornn and another detective were on patrol when they saw Glover's car not come to a complete stop at a stop sign and not wearing a seatbelt, according to an arrest report.
Cornn said he could see inside the car, recognized Glover, and pulled him over for those factors. Plus, he knew that Glover's license had been suspended multiple times, said Chief Sam Taylor at a news conference. Glover kept driving despite police activating their lights and trying to pull him over. Cornn yelled out the window several times telling him to stop, according to dash camera footage.
Glover drove to his grandmother's house on North Vermont Avenue, where he would not stop the car and continued to drive through the yard, according to the arrest report.
"During the struggle, officers told him 30 times to get out of the car," Taylor said.
Cornn said he had to physically open the car door, reach inside the vehicle and put it in park, according to the report. Cornn wrote that Glover would not get out of the car and his "physical resistance was so tense" that it took the two detectives an "extended period of time" to remove him from the car and put him in handcuffs.
Detectives found a cannabis blunt, two containers marked cannabis/THC and a black digital scale in the car.
"During the struggle with Mr. Glover, neither officer used protective measures," Taylor said.
The Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression issued a statement saying Glover was stalked, brutalized and arrested.
"Lakeland PD AGAIN pressed bogus charges on Antwan. They charged him with driving with a suspended driver's license despite the fact that Antwan had no knowledge of this and was not driving at the time of his arrest," part of the statement read.
Dash camera footage showed Glover not stopping as police tried to pull him over and body camera footage shows detectives yelling at Glover to get out while he repeatedly yells, "What are you doing?"
Taylor said the officers "had no idea" Glover was in Lakeland because they thought he was residing in Tampa. A letter found in his car had his Tampa address, Taylor said.
"Officer Cornn did nothing wrong," he added.
This wasn't the first interaction between Glover and Cornn. In December 2022, Glover was pulled over and police said he started an altercation with officers by resisting arrest. Video shot during the arrest showed Glover on the ground with officers punching him repeatedly. He was also tased.
After his arrest, activists and Glover called on the Lakeland Police chief and the four officers involved, including Cornn, to be fired and criminally charged for their actions. The officers were placed on paid administrative leave in January 2023 and in July 2023, the state attorney's office said no criminal charges would be filed against officers.
The police department said that while they were placed on modified duty during an investigation into what happened, the officers were not reprimanded because the state attorney’s office found their conduct to be lawful.