Tampa Bay Chiefs 'Outraged' Over Actions Of Minneapolis Officer

TAMPA, FL — The death of a man at the hands of Minneapolis Police officer has had a ripple effect across the country, including 1,500 miles away in Tampa Bay, where law enforcement leaders say they were outraged at seeing the cellphone video of the arrest of 46-year-old George Floyd.

The cellphone video of Monday's arrest of the former high school football star, who is black, shows him struggling to breathe and pleading for help as a white Minnesota police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck and fellow officers looked on.

Floyd's death touched off protests in Minnesota culminating in the torching of a Minneapolis police station, and sparked nationwide demonstrations.

Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan called Floyd's death nothing less than a "hate crime."

"It just kind of took the air out of me to look at the other officers stand there and not provide assistance," he said. "To say I'm disappointed, deflated is an understatement. There are no words."

Dugan said it's natural to wonder if this type of incident could occur in Tampa.

"It happens in one city and people start questioning, 'Could that happen here?'" said Dugan. "Any chief of police will tell you, when these incidents happen, you do question, 'How would I respond? How would my department respond if that were in my city?' These types of incidents cause every chief to reflect on what is the relationship they have with their community. I do that every single day."

Dugan commended the Minneapolis Police chief on his decision to immediately fire the four officers involved.

"When you look at the quick action of this police chief in firing those four officers, that was a bold statement," said Dugan. "He was concerned about what was going on. At some point, things clearly went bad."

Although Dugan said his department has a strong "response to resistance policy" that prohibits this type of use of force, he said incidents such as this are the reason he and Mayor Jane Castor lobbied the city council for funding for body cameras for police officers.

Last month, the Tampa City Council decided to delay going ahead with a five-year, $5 million contract to purchase of 600 bluetooth-activated body cameras due to the toll of the coronavirus on the city's budget. The outlay this year would have been $1.1 million, which would be offset by a $600,000 federa grant. The council plans to discuss the purchase again in October.

"My role is to police the police as well as the citizens," said Dugan. "The officers know I have their backs, but they also know I will hold them accountable. Body-worn cameras lends to our credibility. That's why myself and the mayor were so passionate about it."

See related stories:

• George Floyd Death: Former Cop Derek Chauvin Arrested
• Miami-Area Police Chiefs 'Outraged' Over Death Of George Floyd
• St. Pete Minister And Police Outraged Over Death Of George Floyd

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister called the death of Floyd "deeply disturbing."

“I understand the pain felt by both his family and the community of Minneapolis," he said in a statement. "While we do not know all the facts that led up to this incident, the citizens of Hillsborough County should know that the actions of the officers as portrayed on cellphone video are not in line with the training we provide our deputies here in Hillsborough County."

He said the use of force demonstrated by the Minneapolis officer is strictly prohibited in the sheriff's office.

“We are dealing with human beings on both sides of these incidents, and we recognize that every individual we encounter is a father, mother, son or daughter," he said. "We will continue taking a proactive approach through training on de-escalation techniques to make every effort to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office."

Across the bay, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, president of the Florida Sheriffs Association, said he was also disturbed by the Minneapolis video.

“I looked at it, kept looking at it and kept looking at it trying to figure out why the guy had his knee on his neck," Gualtieri told the Tampa Bay Times.

Neither the sheriff nor the sheriffs association have responded to requests for statements on Floyd's death.

Although each law enforcement department establishes its own policy for use of force, both the Fourth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution prohibit excessive force.

The most common type of force used by officers (77 percent) to subdue those resisting arrest was grabbing or holding the person being arrested with their arms and hands, according to a report by U.S. Department of Justice on the use of force. However, if an officer needs his hands free to cuff a suspect while he's on the ground, the normal technique involves placing his knee against the suspect's back. The report didn't even address using a knee on the suspect's neck.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said his office's defensive and hand-to-hand training standards instruct deputies to never prohibit an individual's air flow.

"As we watch the news unfold, always remember that we have a degree of control in what happens," said Nocco. "In all things we do, we ultimately make decisions related to our response and our actions. When we confront criminals, we decide how to respond and what steps we take to safely control the situation. As professionals representing the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, we know that what we do and what we say in uniform directly reflects on the entire sheriff’s office."

St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway, Tampa Bay's only black police chief, said such use of force would never be tolerated in his department, although there are times when the use of force is necessary to protect the lives of officers.

In 2019, St. Pete Police officers pointed their guns at suspects 843 times, discharged their weapons 112 times, pointed tasers at suspects four times and used tasers on suspects 51 times. In that time, the department only received one complaint of unncessary use of force and three concerning violations of professional standards, according to statistics released by the department.

Nevertheless, like Dugan, Holloway said he's in favor of body cameras to hold his officers accountable. In February, he launched a pilot program using six officers and said he would like the city council to appropriate funding for body cameras for 450 officers during the coming budget cycle.

To date, the only Tampa Bay law enforcement departments to adopt body cameras are the Pasco County Sheriff's Office and the Gulfport Police Department.

Holloway said there's no excuse for the conduct of the officers in Minneapolis.

“He wasn’t fighting; he wasn’t resisting; he was asking for help," he said. "They, as law enforcement officers, should have rendered help at that point."

Clearwater Police Chief Dan Slaughter said he was also dismayed when Floyd's treatment on the video.

"I find the fired officer’s actions disturbing and inexcusable," Slaughter said. "The fired officer’s method of using his knee is not trained, discussed or even close to defendable in this circumstance. This is not trained at the Clearwater Police Department, and I suspect it isn’t trained in any respectable law enforcement agency. I’m confident in speculating it isn’t trained in Minneapolis, which is why the chief in Minneapolis acted swiftly in firing the involved employees."

Both Slaughter and Holloway said the actions of this one Minneapolis Police officer impacts the reputations of officers around the country.

“Law enforcement here, throughout the nation, we’ve done a lot to build community policing. We’ve done a lot to build trust," Holloway said. "This one incident has set us all back.”

"This singular act will reverse decades of trust built with the community," Slaughter said. "Clearwater police officers love and care for the community. We do not condone, in fact, we condemn the fired officers’ behavior. We need to address these individual failures together, and not judge every police officer in the country for the actions of a few former police officers in Minnesota. What I find inspiring is the public statement from the law enforcement community stating that the actions of the fired officers are wrong and the timely termination of the former officers justified."