On Thursday, a rookie officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was charged with battery following an incident in which he hit a woman who was in handcuffs.
The officer, Akinyemi Borisade, was fired following the incident.
The sheriff’s office also released video, which showed Borisade hitting Mayra Martinez as she was in handcuffs and being booked into jail on charges of trespassing and resisting police. She was arrested when she became drunk and belligerent and had to be escorted by Borisade and another officer from the premises of a bar after she quit her first day of work.
When she was placed in the patrol car, she continued to kick and try to resist as she was placed in more restraints, and she kicked Borisade in the leg. He retaliated by hitting her multiple times.
“He could have turned her around and held her in a transporting position that they are trained in back over to the location to wait by the door,” Ivey said. “He could have stood there with her, but there was no need to strike her.”
Gil Smith, News4Jax crime and safety analyst, praised the sheriff’s office for releasing the video so quickly, though Smith did criticize the other officers on the scene for not intervening.
“They moved quickly. They didn’t wait for this to get out on social media and then wait for pressure from the public. They reported, the corrections officers reported it. And they did an investigation and made an arrest,” Smith said.