A video showing a veteran sheriff's deputy dragging a handcuffed woman through a courthouse by the shackles on her feet has surfaced, resulting in the deputy being placed on restricted duty.
According to the Associated Press, the incident took place inside of a Broward County courthouse on Monday. Deputy Christopher Johnson, 27-year veteran of the police force, can be seen dragging Dasyl Jeanette Rios across the floor by the chains on her feet. The Sun Sentinel reports that Rios, 28, had been declared mentally incompetent in a case involving criminal mischief and trespassing. She was arguing with a female deputy in the courtroom when Johnson intervened. In the video, she can be heard pleading with him:
Stop! You're hurting me! she screams. You're ****ing hurting me! I hate my life! I wish they would kill me already! Why do I have to be alive?
I gave you a chance … Johnson says.
You didn't give nobody a chance, she yells back. All I wanted to do was sob for a few minutes — cry. That's all I wanted to do was cry for a few minutes.
Johnson's incident reports claims that he resorted to extremes out of fear Rios would "Cause a commotion in the public area." Per the Sun Sentinel, Johnson can no longer have contact with inmates until the findings of an Internal Affairs investigation return. Scott Israel, the Sheriff in Broward County, expressed how bothered he was by the incident in a statement:
I am concerned by the way the deputy handled this situation, because there were other courses of action he could have taken. Internal Affairs has initiated a complete and comprehensive investigation, and the deputy has been placed on restricted duty pending the outcome.
[via Associated Press and Sun Sentinel]
