A north Florida grandmother wants answers after she says her local police force barged into her home, knocked her on the floor, and handcuffed her, believing she was someone else.
Before the incident, which was captured on cellphone video, Khristi Jackson told the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputies she was not the woman they were looking for. They disregarded her averments and forcefully restrained her, causing chaos in the woman’s Jacksonville apartment on Thursday, April 27.
Deputies were part of the JSO’s K-9 unit, and experts say a police dog may have been close by the home, waiting to join the would-be arrest.
“They literally slung me on the ground. One police officer kneed me on my right side while I was on the ground,” Jackson said.
She says none of the officers produced a warrant or read to her her Miranda rights. According to the woman, she didn’t even know why they were arresting her. Only after knocking her down, placing her in cuffs, and bringing her to their patrol vehicle did they reach a determination that they had the wrong woman.
“Once I got inside the car and the officer had four pictures of this girl they were looking for, and out of all the pictures, we don’t look alike. Skin color or hair color. Hers was more red,” she said.
According to a police report, officers were looking for a shooting suspect. A witness in the apartment complex told them the shooting suspect was a Black female with short red hair.
Police said when they came to Jackson’s residence, she was aggressive and not cooperative, prompting their response.
“I requested Jackson’s identification and asked if [redacted] was inside her apartment. Jackson was extremely confrontational and refused to identify herself,” an officer said in the report.
The woman disputes the officer’s account. She pointed to the video to support her story.
“You can hear me in the video hollering, get my ID, get my ID, get my ID,” Jackson said.
It was not until she was in the patrol vehicle that officers identified her and listened to others also state she was not the shooter.
Jackson was released after a half hour of them realizing their mistake, but her impact of the day lingers on.
No criminal charges like resisting arrest or opposing an officer were filed. The police report said it would have been inappropriate for them to hold her to any of those counts.
For Jackson, she was one simple request to the JSO. She says she wants them to stop “brutalizing people like they are doing.”
“Communicate with people instead of the first thing you want to do is put your hands on them and slam them on the ground,” she suggested.
She also adds now her grandson is terrified of the police.
Days later, the JSO still says they are unsure about what happened but is conducting an investigation because force was used during the incident and is hoping to figure those details out.
Letecia Burton, a Crime and Safety expert for News4JAX, says she believes once the bodycam video comes out, a more accurate picture of what transpired will be made public.
“It goes back to the investigation that needs to take place. In a situation like this, there’s a lot of adrenaline, and people get tunnel vision. It’s a lot of commotion going on, we don’t even know if officers even heard that,” he said. “We just have to see what their side of the story is and piece it all together.”
In the interim, Jackson has hired an attorney to represent her interests.
