On Saturday, an officer in St. Lucie County was put on administrative leave without pay after being accused of using too much force. He was fired on Monday.
Sheriff Keith Pearson said in a short letter that Deputy Randy Walker, who had been with the department for eight years, was “terminated” from his job.
Pearson told Walker in a letter that the former deputy has five days to ask a review board to hear his case.
The State Attorney’s Office issued two arrest warrants for Walker, and he turned himself in at the Martin County jail on Saturday.
One count of making a fake statement and one count of misdemeanor battery are among the charges.
The arrest report says that Walker went to the area of Deerpark Avenue and Wintergarden Parkway to help road units catch a felony warrant suspect who had run off into the woods on foot.
K-9 units were sent out and found the subject lying in thick brush.
Walker said he hit the suspect in the knees and elbows while he was “actively resisting” until he gave in. In his case supplemental report, Walker also said that he hit the subject again after he tried to put his hands under his stomach so that police couldn’t get to them.
Walker’s report and body-worn camera video from the scene of the crime did not match up.
The suspect’s hands were visible to police, and the report says the suspect was not “brandishing any type of weapon or appear to be endangering law enforcement in any way.”
The deputy also didn’t say that he hit the subject in the head or neck area at least three times.
A probe into the use of force during an April 2 arrest was opened by the police. Walker got out of jail after making bail over the weekend.
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