JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said on Wednesday he formally requested the Jacksonville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help investigate an incident that left an inmate critically injured and resulted in nine Duval County jail officers being removed from their positions.
Waters sent a statement to News4JAX on Wednesday saying in part that his agency requested the FBI’s help to be as transparent as possible in the investigation.
“Transparency is the foundation of public trust. The public’s confidence in the integrity of the April 7th critical incident investigation and in our agency’s commitment to transparency is of paramount concern to me,” Waters wrote.
In a statement to News4JAX, Attorney Belkis Plata identified the injured inmate as Charles Faggart, who’s the owner of a food truck and catering company.
Plata said the man remained hospitalized and on a ventilator.
On Tuesday, Sheriff T.K. Waters announced that eight correctional officers and a correctional sergeant were removed from their positions and stripped of all their correction authority following the incident, which happened on Monday morning.
Plata’s statement to News4JAX reads in part:
“The family is devastated and demands answers regarding how Charles sustained such catastrophic injuries while in the custody and under the supervision of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office — a place where he should have been kept safe...”
Waters said he would not give details about the incident or how the inmate was injured because it was still an open investigation.
With Tuesday’s news conference leaving many unanswered questions, News4JAX reached out to JSO on Wednesday, asking:
- What led to Faggart being critically injured? Was he assaulted? Was it a medical issue?
- When you’re able, can you release the names of the officers involved?
- Did cameras catch what happened?
Read Waters’ full statement below:
“Transparency is the foundation of public trust. The public’s confidence in the integrity of the April 7th critical incident investigation and in our agency’s commitment to transparency is of paramount concern to me. In that spirit, I spoke with leadership at the Jacksonville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. Today, I formally requested the investigative assistance of the FBI to work cooperatively with our detectives concerning the incident that recently occurred in the Duval County Jail. This remains an active criminal investigation, and there is no additional information that I can provide at this time about the facts and circumstances of this critical incident. We will provide our federal partners with all the information they need to conduct their investigation.”
Sheriff T.K. Waters
News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney said it is concerning to know so many corrections staff were removed from their position following this incident, and added that investigators have a lot to look into.
“There’s two different ways this investigation is going to go: one is a criminal investigation into any potential uses of force,” Hackney said. “If that’s the case, the state attorney will step in and investigate, and then an internal investigation happens.”
Hackney said that the investigation could take a long time.
Faggart’s attorney also told News4JAX that the incident placed an “overwhelming emotional and financial burden on the family.”
“Mr. Faggart is a father to a six-year-old son, Lincoln, who now faces the likelihood of growing up without a dad. The family has established a GoFundMe page to assist with mounting medical expenses and to provide support for Lincoln during this extremely difficult time,” Plata wrote.
Inmate records show Faggart was arrested for domestic assault and criminal mischief.
