Attorneys for Le’Kiann Woods, a local man who was brutally beten as revealed in a taped viral video by Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers last year, will be moving forward with a federal lawsuit against the officers involved in the incident.
The footage shown around the globe reveals Woods bloodied and bruised as officers surrounded him after a traffic stop on Sept. 29, 2023. His mugshot shows him with two swollen, black eyes and lacerations on his face
More than a year later, Woods spoke briefly about the incident alongside his attorneys in a news conference outside the Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse in Jacksonville.
“I was stopped at a traffic stop and I ran. I got kind of scared; I knew they was going to shoot me. I panicked and I ran,” Woods told reporters at a press conference. He said that he continues to endure “a lot of migraine and eyesight pain as a result of the beating.
Woods’ attorney Harry Daniels announced the lawsuit against Detectives Beau Daigle, Trey McCullough and Hunter Sullivan and now-former Detective Josue Garriga, accusing them of excessive use of force. According to the lawsuit, the officers violated Woods’ Fourth Amendment right when they pulled him over for “an alleged seatbelt violation” and brutally beat Woods after he fled. The lawsuit states that Woods is still receiving medical care and suffers from various mental health symptoms.
“You had three deputy sheriffs … who weighed over 200 pounds beating Le’Keian, who may have weighed 150 pounds soaking wet. He had already been tased, he was already disoriented,” Daniels said, adding that at least one of the officers kneed Woods in the head “multiple times.”
Officers alleged that they saw Woods engaged in a drug transaction before pulling him over for a traffic stop. He ran as they handcuffed two other people in the traffic stop, according to the body camera video and an arrest report. At the time, the sheriff’s office also alleged that the video created “the illusion of an inappropriate use of force.” Sheriff T.K. Waters said last October that “just because force is ugly does not mean it is unlawful or contrary to policy.”
Body camera video showed detectives chasing Woods through a yard, a parking lot and a grassy area before they used a stun gun on him. Woods was seen falling first onto a paved street with one arm beneath him. Then, detectives were seen hitting him in his face, bloodying his jaw and kneeing him in the head while they yelled for him to put his hands behind his back.
Following the incident, Woods was hospitalized for days with a ruptured kidney and head injuries.
Woods later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting police without violence, and all other charges against him — armed trafficking in cocaine, armed possession of a controlled substance, armed trafficking in amphetamine, and tampering with evidence — were dropped, some as part of a plea deal, according to the Florida Times-Union.
The U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the arrest and concluded last November in a letter to Sheriff Waters: “Based on the known information, this incident does not give rise to a prosecutable violation of the federal civil rights laws. As a result, we are closing our review of this matter.”
“What took place was a crime,”Attorney Daniels said at the press conference. “Was the running of Le’Keian Woods justification of deadly force? I can answer that question: ‘no.’”
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