Jacksonville FL  April 6 2021 A 28-year-old police officer is under arrest after a handcuffed man was struck after a spitting incident outside an Arlington pool room, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.

Alexander G. Grant, a five-year veteran of the force, was charged with battery Thursday, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The incident occurred about 1 a.m. Saturday at the Poker Room at 201 Monument Road, where Grant was working as off-duty security, Undersheriff Pat Ivey said. He was told that a customer in the parking lot was making threats to shoot up the business.

The man was handcuffed and put in a cruiser to face charges of making threats, Ivey said. Grant rolled down the window to read the suspect his rights. That’s when the suspect spit in Grant’s face, and the officer opened the back door and hit him “more than once,” Ivey said. He also ripped the suspect’s shirt.

“This was captured on body camera video and you can actually hear the individual spit,” Ivey said. “Then you can see on the video, the officer wipe his face.”

“That does not allow a policeman, when an individual is cuffed and already secured in a back seat of a police car, to then strike him,” the undersheriff said. “It’s definitely unacceptable and rises to the level of not just an administrative charge of unnecessary or excessive force, but it’s actually a criminal violation.”

While officers sometimes have to use force to handle a suspect, there are levels that are and are not appropriate, Ivey said.

Another officer saw what happened and contacted a sergeant, who called the Sheriff’s Office’s Integrity Unit to investigate, he said. The investigation was brought to the State Attorney’s Office, and a battery charge was filed.

The man who was punched was not identified due to state privacy laws. But he was also charged with battery on an officer because of spitting on Grant, Ivey said. The man received a small abrasion on his face from the hit.

This was the first Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office employee arrested this year versus 11 in 2020. Grant has not been fired, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Jackinsonville.com

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