A Florida deputy sheriff was fired and arrested after bodycam video flagged by a public defender showed that he flung an intoxicated, handcuffed man out of a patrol car, causing the man to hit his head on the pavement and lose consciousness.
Prior to that discovery, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Deputy William Woods, 32, had repeatedly lied about what happened during his encounter with the hapless Tyler Meritt, a Georgia man visiting Amelia Island near Fernandina Beach, who on July 6, 2025, got hammered at the aptly named Hammerhead Bar, then drove his truck to a hotel across the street.
Woods wrote in his arrest report that Merritt “lunged out of the vehicle as I was trying to pull him out of the vehicle … then went limp and fell to the ground, hitting his head on the asphalt parking lot.”
But the cruiser dashcam and body-worn camera video that came to light seven weeks later told a different story.
The video shows that when Woods and two other deputies caught up with Merritt, the 31-year-old was obviously drunk and incoherent, explaining in fits and starts that he had left his debit card at the bar and alluding to a run-in with some Black bouncers at the door who weren’t happy with the Confederate tattoo on his torso.
Merritt admitted he was drunk and was compliant with officers’ requests, but clearly unsteady and incapable of completing the field sobriety tests that Woods attempted to perform on him. He was cuffed with his arms behind his back and put into a patrol car, telling Woods, “I love you,” while his wife, who had appeared on the scene, apologized that he “gets hyper” when he drinks.
Merritt then began to bang his head on the car window. Noticing this, Woods, who up to that point had been patient and friendly with the rambling Merritt, grimaced, turned around, and opened the passenger car door.
As Nassau County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Mark Murphy, who reviewed the video later recounted, Merritt’s feet “are clearly flat on the floorboard of the vehicle,” and he “leans inward slightly as the door opens as if he was surprised, at which point Woods braces the door with his left arm and hooks his right arm through the Victim’s left arm and slings him out of the vehicle causing the Victim’s head to strike the pavement knocking him unconscious.”
Noting Merritt was handcuffed behind his back, “the Victim had no way to protect his fall,” Murphy observed.
Merritt remained unconscious for several minutes, as his wife and another relative looked on, seemingly shocked by the violent turn of events. Woods told them, “He’s fine … he’s breathing.”
An emergency medic who arrived asked what happened, and one officer replied, “Uh, he got dunked here. Lost consciousness for about two and a half minutes … Dunked here, by us. Like use of force by us. Onto the concrete.”
When a supervising officer arrived, Woods explained, “While we get into the back of the car — I know they don’t call it excited delirium anymore, he’s got something else other than alcohol on board. Um, drenched in sweat — he starts banging his head against the windshield. … So, I go to open the door. That’s when he kind of push kicks the door into me. Uh, I grab him. He kind of jumps out and I’m taking him out of the car and he just hit the ground.”
Merritt was taken to a nearby hospital and then booked the following day for DUI, obstructing a police officer without violence, and careless driving. (He was later found guilty of DUI, and the other two charges were dropped.)
Woods filed his false report, which was signed off on by a supervisor.
Almost two months later, public defender Courtney Miller contacted the state attorney’s office to inform them that the responding officers’ affidavits and video of the arrest were “in conflict.”
The sheriff’s office investigation that ensued concluded that Woods “used unnecessary force to control the handcuffed Victim” and “caused him injuries.” Woods also “falsified the actual account of what happened in the arrest report and offense report,” the investigator wrote.
Woods was charged with official misconduct, a felony, and misdemeanor battery.
On Sept. 2, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office released a statement that Woods, who had been with the agency since 2016 and was awarded Patrol Deputy of the Year for 2023, had been arrested and terminated as a result of his excessive use of force and dishonesty.
“Integrity is at the core of the Nassau County Sheriff’s mission,” said Sheriff Bill Leeper. “Deputy Woods had been a good deputy during his years of service, which makes this outcome especially disappointing. But when actions fall short of our standards and the public’s trust is compromised, we have a duty to hold our own accountable.”
The body-worn camera footage of the arrest surfaced publicly in December after web reporters obtained it through public information requests.
The Explore With Us true crime YouTube channel posted an edited version of the deputies’ videos, which reveal how violently Woods yanked Merritt out of the patrol car and then immediately sought to blame the man for hurting himself.
“Wow. That poor drunk man was cooperative and not a threat. Not necessary! An unpredictable cop is a dangerous cop! Take him off the force!” wrote @RaesaLitvak about the arrest video.
“One drunk with alcohol and one drunk with power,” commented @Jontheinternet about the takedown.
West Virginia civil rights attorney John H. Bryan obtained the video, as well as arrest and investigation reports, which he posted on his The Civil Rights Lawyer website last week.
“This isn’t the first time that a police officer with no prior negative history lost his temper with a drunk arrestee and got himself in trouble,” observed Bryan, who specializes in federal civil rights litigation against police defendants,
“But what separates this from some of the others where there’s just this split-second decision that’s later regretted is the attempted cover-up by everyone involved,” Bryan continued. “They submitted false reports, they said nothing and hoped it went away, but it didn’t thanks to the public defender’s office.”
The criminal trial date for Woods is reportedly set for this June, with a pre-trial hearing scheduled for March.
