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A handful of Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) deputies are under internal investigation after being caught on video repeatedly kicking and stomping on a young Black man.
On Tuesday, while investigating a shooting in Pompano Beach, BSO deputies say 22-year-old Jeremyah Taylor “began to rapidly approach” them while “shouting unknown statements.” According to a police report (attached at the bottom of this story), one officer pointed his gun at Taylor and “advised him to stop multiple times.” After Taylor allegedly disregarded those commands, officers ordered him to get on the ground.
Cellphone video shared online shows two deputies restraining Taylor in the parking lot of an apartment complex, pressing him against a gray BMW, before several other officers rush over and tackle him to the ground.
While Taylor lies face down on the pavement, the video shows a deputy holding a long black gun appearing to kick him twice, stomp on him twice more, and then kick him at least once again.
“I was disgusted, I could barely see it,” Taylor’s mother, who didn’t want to be identified, told NBC6 of the video. “As a mother, it was like, ‘Who would want to see that?'”
In a statement to New Times, BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright says that the Internal Affairs Unit is conducting an initial administrative review, which BSO’s Use of Force Review Board will later examine.
According to the police report, as one officer ordered Taylor to put his hands behind his back and attempted to restrain him, Taylor “began to resist me actively…by tensing, bracing his shoulders, and pulling away from us, preventing us from placing him into handcuffs.”
“I then picked up the subject’s legs to defeat his balance, as the subject was brought to the ground, he grabbed hold of [one officer’s] foot causing [him] to lose his balance and fall to the ground,” the report reads. “Eventually, we were able to secure the defendant and put him into custody.”
Taylor’s mother said deputies were at the scene looking for his uncle, who was later arrested in connection with the shooting.
Records show that Taylor was charged with two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence.
On Thursday, Taylor bonded out of jail and went to Broward Health Medical Center for treatment, where he said doctors told him he suffered a minor head injury and bruising.
“He’s complaining about headaches. He has a bruise on the left side of his face. He has scratches on his arm. You can see the bruise marks on his back,” Taylor’s mother told NBC 6 South Florida. “I want answers. I want that deputy to be held accountable.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
