2 weeks Ago By USA TODAY
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida man who was severely beaten by Jacksonville sheriff’s officers in a last year filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming that the officers brutally violated his rights. Attorneys for , 25, said in the lawsuit that Woods suffered a type of traumatic brain injury, a ruptured kidney, nerve damage and other harm from the September 2023 arrest that resulted in a for resisting police without violence.
The incident was captured on video by a bystander, showing Woods handcuffed with swollen eyes and a bloody face. “All of that wasn’t warranted,” attorney Harry Daniels said of police actions that included striking Woods with fists, knees and elbows after he ran from a police traffic stop and was tasered. Joining his lawyers at a news conference Thursday, Woods said he ran because he feared being shot during the traffic stop.
He said that he doesn't regret his decisions that day. Police reports at the time indicated Woods was struck . The didn’t claim wrongdoing by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, only individual officers.
The suit argues that the officers ― , Hunter Sullivan, Trey McCullough and Beau Daigle ― all used excessive force against Woods. The suit also adds a separate claim against Sullivan and Daigle for pointing guns at the vehicle's occupants during the stop and a third claim against Sullivan saying the officer slammed Woods’ face into the ground after Woods was handcuffed. The officers couldn't immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The incident sparked local and national outrage after the video spread on social media. Weeks after the incident, a Jacksonville social justice organization and Woods' family rallied to denounce the officers’ actions and call for an end to police brutality, according to . Complaints about the arrest briefly reached the , which said it was “monitoring” the case.
But in November 2023, the department stopped its review, saying the "incident does not give rise to a prosecutable violation of the federal civil rights laws." The video captured by the bystander showed officers taking Woods into custody after the traffic stop, in which at least three officers were seen forcefully holding Woods down on grass near a vehicle. Daniels has said Woods was beaten by the officers after being pulled over for an alleged seat belt violation.
Officers alleged that they saw Woods engaging in a drug transaction at a gas station and believed that he was armed, according to an arrest report and body camera footage. They attempted to initiate a traffic stop but instead followed Woods and his two friends, who were in a pickup truck, to a dead end of an apartment complex driveway. Daigle and Sullivan attempted to conduct a “high-risk takedown” at that location, according to the report.
As Daigle was giving commands to the occupants, the report said Woods fled from the front passenger seat through the apartment complex. Sullivan then chased after Woods and deployed his taser, the report said. Three of the officers — Sullivan, Garriga and McCullough — repeatedly hit and kneed Woods as they tried to handcuff him.
Days after Woods' arrest, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it believed the officers "acted appropriately" in response to the incident. Woods was initially charged with felonies, including armed trafficking in amphetamine and cocaine. But those charges were after his attorney argued that Woods was only a passenger in the truck and couldn’t be connected to the drugs.
He pleaded guilty to resisting arrest without violence and was sentenced to nine days in jail..
