Pinellas Sheriff Investigates Allegations Of Excessive Force In Arrest

PINELLAS PARK - The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the arrest of a 25-year-old man whose attorney says deputies beat and choked. Dash cam video from the sheriff’s office show a deputy hitting Jimarez Reed in the head seven times.

Deputies were in the area of 79th street in Pinellas Park about 11:30 p.m. May 25, responding to a house party after someone called 911. The video shows Reed crouching behind a car.

Reed was taken to a hospital and needed stitches. He was charged with battery of an officer and resisting with and without violence for the May 25 arrest. He was later released from jail on bond. He is back in jail on a new charge for fighting a deputy, News Channel 8 reported.

Michele Rayner, attorney for Reed, said the video shows officers used excessive force. She says her client did nothing to provoke the incident, Fox 13 reported.

The sheriff's office reported an active internal affairs investigation into the incident.

On May 25, someone at the house party called authorities, saying Reed had a gun, Fox 13 reported.

"Get on the ground!" one of the deputies yells at Reed in the video.

As Reed was lying on the ground next to a car, a deputy gets on top of him and punches him seven times in the head. “Don't kill me please. Let me go, let me go, bro," Reed yells in the video.

Deputies struggle to put cuffs on him, the video shows. The deputy then pulls Reed’s head up by his hair.

Rayner said a gun was discovered locked in Reed's car. She said her client didn't resist deputies and wants his charges dropped. She believes the incident was racially motivated.

Read the Fox 13 story here.

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