JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The JSO officer who was brutally beaten by a shoplifting suspect in 2023 faced her attacker today. Officer Jennifer Scott then made a surprising choice when addressing her attacker, Joseph Merrill.
Courtroom 306, Duval County Court. Officer Jennifer Scott looked across the room at the now handcuffed man who had once put his hands on her.
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“While I accepted the inherent risk of wearing a badge, no officer should ever have to endure the level of violence inflicted upon me,” Scott said.
In February 2023, Officer Jennifer Johnson, now remarried as Jennifer Scott, approached suspected shoplifter Joseph Merrill in the parking lot of the Phillips Highway Walmart in Jacksonville. Merrill punched Scott in the mouth and knocked her down, breaking multiple bones in her face.
“I could not be there for my children. I had to eat through a straw forced to the back of my mouth. It was wired shut,” Scott said.
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After the attack, Merrill ran off but was later arrested, and the assault was caught on camera.
The brutal beating resulted in several charges, including Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer. Merrill pleaded guilty to those charges on May 13.
He was sentenced to 28 years in prison. But Officer Scott still took the opportunity to speak directly to Merrill in court. And after all of her trauma, Scott made a surprising yet powerful choice.
“Today I choose to forgive the defendant,” Scott said.
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“In my heart, I knew for a while. I just didn’t want to hold onto the anger or the resentment,” Scott said after court. “While he’s in there the next 28 years. He can get help, you know, be a better person. Your life’s not over.”
Before Merrill was carried off, Scott looked at him.
“I knew that would be the last time I saw him,” said Scott.
Scott said she would approach Merrill all over again. After another surgery, she hopes to return to street duties as an officer.
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