POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Community activists are calling it a "pattern of violent behavior” as more and more families are coming forward accusing Lakeland Police officers of brutality. This comes as three officers have been taken off the streets pending an investigation.
Carrie Cline gets sick to her stomach every time she sees the video of her son, Armani Evans, being beaten by Lakeland Police Officers.
“It’s still hard to watch today,” Cline said. “Him screaming for help and anybody that knows Armani knows he don’t scream for help. He's always the one helping.”
Cline said her son was left with severe injuries, including a tooth knocked out and cuts inside his mouth where he couldn’t eat for two weeks.
“Once the taser fell apart after being struck in the head so many times with it, then they proceeded to pull out a flashlight and started hitting him with that,” Cline said.
A growing number of people are speaking out about the excessive force Lakeland Police Officers used on them for something like not wearing a seatbelt.
“They were hitting me all in my face, then officer McCain he hit me in my stomach, my side, just kept punching me until I got knocked unconscious,” said Timothy Davis.
Davis said officers broke his right eye socket resulting in vision loss. He has pleaded guilty to resisting arrest.
Antwan Glover came forward after being repeatedly punched in the face and tased by Lakeland Police Officers in December.
Their cases all involve the same police officers. Leaders from the Poor & Minority Justice Association and Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Inc. said they are getting more calls from residents asking for help.
"There’s a pattern of police brutality in the Lakeland Police force. That's the culture,” said Clayton Cowart, founder of the Poor & Minority Justice Association.
This week the officers involved have resigned to desk duty. In a written statement, Lakeland’s new Police Chief Sam Taylor said:
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, I was provided additional information related to an ongoing administrative investigation into the circumstances surrounding an arrest made on December 18, 2022. A video of that arrest was posted on social media and has since been covered by news outlets. When this new information is considered along with the previously known facts of this case, and after consulting with the City Manager Shawn Sherrouse, we have decided it is prudent to place Detective Dillon Cornn and Officers Anton Jefferson and Jason McCain on a modified duty status effective immediately.
Officers assigned to modified duty status are limited in their contact with the public and are restricted from working extra duty details. This duty modification will remain in effect until the investigation is completed. This duty status change should not be interpreted as anything other than a modification in these officers’ duty assignments.
Community activists said they won’t be satisfied until those officers are behind bars.
“We want the state attorney’s office also to hold accountable these officers and make sure that they’re never able to work in law enforcement again,” Cowart said.
ABC Action News reached out to the Lakeland Police Department about these cases, and we still have not gotten a response.
