JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is facing a federal lawsuit for a 2022 incident where the department’s Gang Unit and its K9 are accused of violently taking down the wrong man as he left a therapy appointment.
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The lawsuit said on July 21, 2022, Jamari Brooks was walking out of the doctor’s office on Blanding Boulevard and saw JSO Gang Unit Officers standing around the entrance of the building with guns drawn, telling him to get on the ground.
Brooks can be seen on JSO body cam footage, which was shared with News4JAX by his attorney, lying down on his stomach with his arms outstretched as he is surrounded by officers.
According to the lawsuit, an officer kneeled on Brooks’ back and shoved his head into the ground during his arrest. Then another officer released K-9 Huk, who bit him in the arm, puncturing his skin, and jerked him side to side, the video shows.
The police report, which his attorney, John Phillips, called “dysfunctional,” said a short time before the Gang Unit tried to stop a car, but it sped away. JSO then followed the car to a medical complex and watched as a “Black male wearing a black shirt and a lime green hat” walked into an office. The report said the same man came out of the office 1-2 minutes later.
But Phillips said that Brooks was misidentified, and JSO was actually looking for someone else.
Officers can be heard on the video yelling at Brooks to “lay down,” “roll over,” “put your hands behind your back,” and “stop resisting,” while the dog was biting his arm, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said that Brooks was confused and he repeatedly asked what he did to lead to the incident, while officers asked him who he was.
The lawsuit claims that the use of the police dog was in violation of agency policy, which states a police service dog “shall not be used...except in cases of self-defense or to rescue an officer in distress.” Phillips said this was not a case of self-defense because Brooks was already on the ground with his arms outstretched before the dog bit him.
After the incident, the officers can be heard on camera admitting that they had the wrong person, according to the lawsuit. Deputy Josue Garriga, according to the lawsuit, said to another officer that Brooks “ain’t him” and “look just like him, but it ain’t him.”
The body camera video shared with News4JAX contains only partial audio, so that quote wasn’t heard.
“There was no police chase, there was no crime, there was nothing to warrant this response, and yet he’s beaten and has the dog put on him and the police report wildly describes an incident that that body camera completely disagrees with,” Phillips said.
The lawsuit said Garriga is the one believed to be the officer who misidentified Brooks. Garriga, a now former JSO officer, was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison for enticing a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
“So actually, I guess I’ll be deposing him in prison and confirming why he knew, or when he knew this was Jamari Brooks, not the person they were looking for,” Phillips said.
Phillips said that even after Garriga identified Brooks as the wrong suspect, officers still filed the police report that he said has multiple factual errors. He said the police officers involved need to be held accountable.
“They had their agenda and if we don’t hold officers more responsible, not just for mistakes, I think we got to hold them, you know, responsible for some mistakes, but malfeasance, then what good are they? And it’s going to, it’s going to impugn the entire credibility of an entire police force and an entire profession that is otherwise honorable,” Phillips said.
According to court documents, News4JAX learned Brooks was under observation by police because the suspect police were looking for was believed to have been seen in the same car Brooks was riding in.
In a response to the lawsuit in federal court, an attorney for Sheriff T.K. Waters denied any wrongdoing on behalf of his officers.
News4JAX asked JSO if its officers violated policy, which would include writing an inconsistent police report. JSO said they cannot comment on pending litigation.