After Arrest During Sept. Commission Meeting, Charges Dropped Against Pro-Choice Protester

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Charges have been dropped against a pro-choice protester arrested outside the Sept. 15 Manatee County Board of County Commissioners meeting after she asked a police officer for his name and badge number.

Social justice activist Kimberly Cox was arrested by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and faced multiple charges, including peacefully resisting arrest, trespassing, and disrupting a school or religious event.

The New Port Richey resident attended the meeting in support of the Women’s Voices of South Florida’s protest of a proposal to submit a letter written by Commissioner James Satcher — a conservative minister who initially brought his pro-life initiatives inspired by Texas' so-called "Heartbeat Bill" before the county board in June — to the Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody seeking legal advice on creating local abortion restrictions. Commissioners approved the submission of that letter to the attorney general in a 4-3 vote.

Cox livestreamed the meeting, including her arrest, on her Facebook page. (Watch the entire video below.)

In the video, she can be seen on the steps outside the Manatee County Administration building speaking with another protester, a woman, who was leaving the area after being trespassed from the building.

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Cox went back into the building and asked the deputies sitting in the lobby, "Did one of you enforce the trespass for her?"

When the deputies didn't respond, she asked, "What's your name and badge number?"

After they didn't respond again, Cox said, "Legally, in the state of Florida, you have to give me that. What is your name and badge number?"

"Either go inside (the board meeting) or step out of the building," one of the deputies responded.

Within seconds, he stood up, walked in her direction and reached out toward her.

"Get your hands off me," Cox can be heard yelling.

"Are you really going to touch her?" another activist asked. "She didn't do anything."

As deputies grabbed Cox, pushed her to the ground and handcuffed her, another protester took over her phone's livestream of the incident and her entire arrest was shared on Facebook.

In the video, Cox yelled, "You don't have to break my god---- arm, a--hole. You're breaking my arm."

The deputies never told her why she was being detained or read her Miranda rights.

After that day, Cox has been focused on her legal battles, even quitting her job with a criminal defense attorney’s office.

“I took a step back from that. Just, honestly, I wasn’t able to focus on anything else, really,” she told Patch. “Those were other people’s lives I was putting at risk.”

She began delivering food for Uber Eats and learned Tuesday that the company was letting her go because of her pending charges. The company was mostly concerned about the charge of resisting arrest, she said.

“In a panic, wondering what am I going to do, I called my lawyer and basically said, ‘Can we petition the judge? What can we do to further this along?’” Cox said.

Her attorney emailed the judge after their conversation telling the court that “they didn’t understand that this has real-life consequences” and reminded the judge of her right to a speedy trial, she said.

“The office of the state attorney fails to realize that these are real-life consequences people face because of a simple arrest. You don't have to be guilty or not guilty. Just putting the handcuffs on you changes your whole life," she added.

Within a half hour of the attorney emailing the judge, the charges against her were dropped.

“He started reading me this message that they were going to drop the charges and I got that swirly head feeling, ‘What? What did you just say? They're going to drop the charges? I have to go. I can't even wrap my head around it. It's just over like that?’” Cox said.

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While she’s relieved that the charges are behind her now, she’s frustrated that she’s lost two jobs because of them — one because she was overwhelmed by her pending court case, the other because of the charges themselves.

She has since asked Uber Eats to reconsider her firing, especially since she “can show video evidence that (she) wasn’t doing these things” and the charges have been dropped.

Patch has reached out to Uber Eats for comment.

She’s also frustrated with the sheriff’s office for her being arrested in the first place.

“These police officers, they fail to realize what the consequences are, but they also fail to realize that we’re all human beings in this wild, crazy world and we’re all trying to survive and we’re all carrying s---,” Cox said.

She added, “People need to open their eyes and realize you may not agree with what I was out there protesting, but I was out there using my First Amendment rights. I was well within my rights, and they snatched me up and changed my entire life and they could do it to you.”

As she looks to the future, she plans to seek legal counsel outside her criminal defense to see what her options might be.

“Because I was illegally arrested and detained and lost my job and now, I could use some medical treatment and payback for that,” she said.

Cox is also more inspired than ever to return to her activism work. She plans to be at Tuesday’s county commission meeting to speak during the public comment period.

“I'm just glad that I can still continue the fight, that I'm not out more money than I already am,” she said.