ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – A former Ormond Beach police officer was arrested last week, accused of felony battery against a DUI suspect while he was still with the force.
Police say the incident happened on Dec. 6, after the suspect was brought into the Ormond Beach police department headquarters.
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The Ormond Beach Fire Department was called to transport her to a hospital because of a head wound. Police say former Officer Jacob Cannon, 32, told them he was trying to administer an intoxilyzer test when the suspect, who had been shouting obscenities and yelling over the officers the entire time, tried to charge him.
They say Cannon said he grabbed the suspect to sit her down, but the suspect hit the chair and rolled onto the metal frame of the glass wall in the room. Police say Cannon also said the suspect fell a second time when she slipped on blood on the floor of a holding cell.
However, police say Cannon’s story didn’t match up with what was seen on the body-worn cameras Cannon and another officer were wearing.
Instead, they say the suspect never charged at Cannon, and that he grabbed the suspect’s shoulders and violently pulled her toward him, then pushed her over the chair and into the wall before letting her go.
The officers took the suspect to a holding cell, where the suspect fell after a failed attempt to sit on the concrete bench.
According to the arrest affidavit, the suspect was bleeding significantly, and Cannon knew it because he commented about the blood, but did nothing to help her.
The suspect needed seven stitches in her head.
Ormond Beach Police Chief Jesse Godfrey says Cannon was put on leave, during the investigation, and resigned before he turned himself into the Volusia County Jail.
“The men and women who do professional and compassionate work on a daily basis serving our citizens have no tolerance for this type of behavior,” Godfrey said in a statement. “I have no tolerance for this type of behavior.”
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