Family says video of Jacksonville man’s arrest is ‘just awful’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATED 1:12 p.m.- Cellphone video sent to Action News Jax shows officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office punching a man while trying to detain him last Saturday.

Jermain Mitchell, 29, was arrested for trespassing and resisting officers at the RaceWay gas station on Lem Turner Road.

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His mother, Taunya Tyson, was also there and was arrested. Video shows officers push her up against the wall.

“The way they just did that and they turned around and grabbed me and did me the same way. I was like, ‘man what is going on?’”

Tyson said she and her son were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Their arrests linked back to a car meet-up at Roses on Lem Turner over the weekend.

According to a police report, undercover officers monitored the meetup and followed another suspect, Andre Brown, to the RaceWay where Mitchell was.

“The vehicle was dangerously weaving in between the pumps, vehicles and other pedestrians at the gas station,” a police report stated.

There’s no video of Brown’s arrest, but the report states an officer,“struck the suspect in the head to overcome the resistance by the suspect.”

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Brown was arrested for failure to obey an officer and fleeing law enforcement. Action News Jax’s Robert Grant spoke with the 22-year-old’s aunt, Stephanie Green.

“Young male adults in a parking lot, spinning tires would warrant the reaction that JSO did on that night? I can’t believe it.”

We showed the video to Action News Jax’s Law and Safety Expert, Dale Carson.

“It disturbs me to see that,” he said. “We have to grow up in law enforcement. I will tell you as a former police officer for Miami, when the public doesn’t like you, bad things happen all around.”

Action News Jax emailed the video to the sheriff’s office and asked for comment, and whether the officer’s actions are being investigated. JSO says the incident is being reviewed by administration at this time.

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