A Florida deputy sheriff faces as much as 30 years in jail after a federal jury discovered he violated a person’s civil rights by slamming him to the bottom, inflicting him to hit his chin on asphalt and lose consciousness, after which mendacity about why he did it.
Tyler Williams, 30, a former Hendry County Sheriff’s Workplace deputy, was convicted on Feb. 10 of violating a person’s civil rights and obstructing justice in reference to the July 4, 2023, incident, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Center District of Florida stated in a information launch.
In a report he wrote the day after the incident, Williams stated he grabbed the person’s shoulders, turned, and “took [him] to the bottom” as a result of he was afraid the person is perhaps armed. Then he put the knocked-out man in a “restoration” place and known as for first responders to guage him, in response to the indictment, reported the Miami Herald.
However bodycam video exhibits Williams lied to justify his use of pressure, prosecutors stated.
Within the video, Williams, who had detained the person as a suspect in a residential housebreaking, is seen speaking to his supervisor as he holds the person face-forward in opposition to his police automotive. The person is standing nonetheless, and his fingers are handcuffed behind his again.
At numerous factors, the person interrupted their dialog and tried speaking to the deputy. When he did so once more, Williams grabbed the person, spun him round and forcefully threw him down face-first into the pavement. Unable to brace himself, the person was instantly rendered unconscious. Then Williams started yelling at him, saying he was warned to not push in opposition to him.
The U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace known as Williams’ use of pressure “unreasonable” and his false justification for it, obstruction of justice.
Williams’ conduct was first investigated by the Hendry County Sheriff’s Workplace, which referred the case to the FBI.
In April of 2024, when Williams was indicted, Sheriff Steve Whidden stated at a press convention that when he first watched the physique cam video, “I used to be shocked and appalled. You understand, after we swear a deputy in, he has nice energy, and with that belief comes nice accountability. And what I noticed on this physique digital camera violated the belief of our neighborhood.”
U.S. Legal professional Roger Handberg stated then that “regulation enforcement just isn’t proof against the presence of a small variety of people who tarnish the repute of their career, who erode public belief,” reported WGCU Information.
Williams already had quite a few black marks on his regulation enforcement file when he joined the Hendry County Sheriff’s Workplace in 2021.
Previous to that, he was employed as a Fort Myers police officer for 5 years however left that division after he was investigated and arrested for not reporting suspected youngster abuse at a site visitors cease.
In that case, he stopped a lady for rushing who turned out to have narcotics, together with suspected heroin and syringes, in her automotive, in addition to an unsecured 3-year-old toddler sleeping within the again seat.
In a video of that incident, he advised the girl and her good friend that regardless of the “bag of ice,” used needles he had noticed within the automotive and the hazard it posed to the “lovely little woman” within the again seat, he had determined to offer them a “freebie” and allow them to go, as a result of “in the end I actually don’t really feel like coping with DCF (Division of Little one and Household Providers) at six o’clock within the morning. … I need to go dwelling.”
Lower than a month later, the identical lady blacked out whereas driving below the affect of narcotics, hitting a number of bushes, reported WINK Information. And the identical 3-year-old woman was thrown from the van and died from her accidents. Williams was placed on administrative depart and arrested by Fort Myers police for his failure as a mandated reporter to inform the state about potential abuse and neglect of a kid. That prison cost was finally dropped after the police union fought on his behalf, however he confronted dozens of different disciplinary costs throughout his FMPD tenure.
The fees included a sample of reckless driving, failure to inform a supervisor a few home violence incident, falsely reporting his physique digital camera had died, tampering with tools, and threatening a citizen with a metallic jack deal with whereas off responsibility.
He was additionally placed on administrative depart after an officer-involved taking pictures in 2017 that he participated in. An investigation discovered Williams was justified in utilizing lethal pressure, in response to the Fort Myers Information-Press.
In all, WINK Information discovered that Williams acquired 38 disciplinary actions on the Fort Myers Police Division that have been sustained by the police chief. He resigned in February 2021 whereas three investigations have been nonetheless pending and was employed a month later by Hendry County.
Hendry County Sheriff Whidden stated final yr that the sheriff’s workplace had justified hiring Williams as a result of the prison costs in opposition to him had been dismissed, reported WGCU.
For his current conviction involving extreme pressure, Williams is going through as much as 10 years in jail on a cost of violating the person’s civil rights and as much as 20 years on a cost of obstructing justice, prosecutors stated. A date for his sentencing listening to was not posted as of Monday.
