‘I’m Not Resisting!’: Florida Cop Accuses a Black Driver of Fighting Back, Slaps Him Three Times — Then a Bystander Captures What Never Made It to the Report
Dwon Ellis Jr., a 31-year-old Black man from Florida, had just left the cemetery where he had been visiting his toddler son’s gravesite when he was pulled over for running two stop signs. Jacksonville sheriff’s officer J.A. Hendricks first claimed to have smelled marijuana, then discovered Ellis was driving with a suspended license so he ordered him out of the car and handcuffed him. Dwon Ellis Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the Jacksonville sheriff's officers who handcuffed and slapped him three times, accusing him of resisting arrest when the video shows he was not resisting. (Photo: body camera video/NewsJax4) Once handcuffed, Jacksonville sheriff’s officer T. Murphy slapped Ellis three times in the face while ordering him to “stop resisting” — but video evidence shows Ellis was not resisting. Last week, Ellis filed a federal lawsuit against Hendricks and Murphy, accusing them of violating his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights through excessive force, failure to intervene and fabrication of evidence. ‘OMG!!!!’: Florida Police Said They Were Forced to Kill a Black Man, Refused Calls for BodyCam Video — Then a Neighbor’s Footage Blew the Story Apart Also listed as a defendant is Jacksonville Sheriff Thomas Kevin Water, Duval County and the city of Jacksonville for allowing and encouraging officers to lie, abuse and to intimidate citizens from recording them in public. “This case reflects not an isolated incident, but a culture, policy, and practice within JSO and the Consolidated City of Jacksonville that tolerates excessive force against non-resisting citizens, tolerates concealment of force through false or incomplete reporting, and tolerates interference with civilian recording to suppress transparency and accountability,” states the lawsuit filed by attorneys Stephen B. Kelly Jr. and Wade M. Rolle of Jacksonville. Ellis filed a complaint, resulting in Murphy being suspended for eight days, News4Jax reported. “I didn’t understand it, I just felt bad,” Ellis told News4Jax. “I didn’t know how to feel at the time. I was angry. I was hurt.” Watch the video below. ‘I’m Going to Slap You Again!’ The incident took place on Feb. 9, 2024, which would have been his son’s seventh birthday who tragically drowned in a pool in 2017. Hendricks wrote in his report that he pulled Ellis over after spotting him running two stop signs while driving a Nissan Altima. Although he claimed to have smelled marijuana — which is a common allegation made by cops to justify searching people’s cars — Ellis told him he doesn’t even smoke weed. Hendricks made no mention of Murphy slapping Ellis hard across the face three times. The claim states it is common practice at the agency to omit details of physical abuse because it is encouraged by the top brass. But body camera video clearly shows Murphy slapping Ellis while accusing the Black man of pushing against him – when the video shows it was the cop pushing Ellis against his car. “Stop resisting!” Murphy yells. “I’m not resisting!” replies Ellis. “I’m going to slap you again, motherf_cker!” Murphy threatens. Meanwhile, another man recording from across the street is telling the cop he is a “b_tch ass motherf_cker.” According to the arrest report: I informed Mr. Ellis that his license was suspended and asked him to step out of the vehicle because he did not have a valid driver's license. I asked Mr. Ellis if he had a medical marijuana card and he informed me that he does not smoke marijuana and does not know what hemp products are. I asked Mr. Ellis to face the vehicle in order to search his person and Mr. Ellis began to actively physically resist by turning his body. Ofc. T. Murphy #80683 and I then placed both of Mr. Ellis' arms behind his back as he continued to resist by tensing his arms and pulling away from me. Once in handcuffs, I again began to search Mr. Ellis who continued to resist by turning his body toward us and attempting to press his body away from the vehicle. Ellis was charged with resisting arrest without violence, driving with a suspended license and cited for running two stop signs. He was convicted of resisting arrest in a plea deal where the other charges were dismissed. ‘That’s Assault and Battery’ Unlike the arrest report, the recent lawsuit goes into detail about the physical abuse suffered by Ellis at the hands of the Jacksonville cops. Despite Plaintiff’s full compliance, Defendant Murphy approached and, while Plaintiff was restrained in handcuffs, slapped Plaintiff in the face three times, then threatened to slap Plaintiff again while cursing and using profanity at Plaintiff. While Plaintiff remained restrained in handcuffs, Defendant Murphy forcefully gripped and squeezed the back of Plaintiff’s neck, and lifted Plaintiff upward by the handcuffs, forcing Plaintiff into an extremely uncomfortable, painful, and unnatural position. The assault was captured on multiple recordings, including Defendant Murphy’s own body-worn camera, other BWC and several civilian recorded video, including a separate vantage point corroborating the third slap and the neck restraint. “You ain’t got to hit him, bro,” said the witness recording from across the street. The claim also states that it is common practice for Jacksonville sheriff officers to yell “stop resisting” when arresting non-resisting citizens. In addition to physical abuse, JSO officers frequently invoke the phrase “stop resisting” during use-of-force incidents, even when civilians are visibly restrained or fully compliant. This phrase is used pretextually to justify excessive force and manipulate the narrative for post-incident documentation and legal defense. Although no resistance was shown by Plaintiff at any time, the use of force against him followed the same cultural pattern within JSO of pairing unlawful physical aggression with false verbal claims of noncompliance to conceal misconduct and shift blame onto victims. “Slapping someone who you know is unarmed, being compliant and handcuffed, whether you have a badge or a gun or not, is wrong,” attorney Kelly told News4Jax. “He wasn’t slapped once, he wasn’t slapped twice, he was slapped three times while handcuffed.” “That’s not a police tactic. That’s humiliation, and that’s assault and battery.” Like many law enforcement agencies from across the country, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has a long history of abusive tactics against Black people including allowing a police dog to maul an innocent Black man for “matching the description” of another Black man. And, of course, there was that viral video from last year showing a Jacksonville cops breaking William McNeil Jr’s car window after pulling over the Black man for not having his lights turned on during inclement weather. Then there was the case of the Jacksonville sheriff’s officer knocking out a Black woman’s two front teeth after she complained about him parking in her driveway. That cop, Alejandro Carmona-Fonseca, is now serving a prison sentence for child sex crimes. The woman, Brittany Moore, filed a lawsuit last year, accusing the former cop of having been “viewing inappropriate and illegal materials while parked in (her) driveway.”
