An Ormond Beach Police officer threw a handcuffed woman to the ground, causing her to smash into a chair and apparently a wall before hitting the floor, according to a video released June 23.
Jacob Ryan Cannon, 32, was charged with felony battery, a third-degree felony, after the incident. Cannon resigned from the police force Jan. 31 before turning himself in at the Volusia County Branch Jail. He is free on $25,000 bond.
Shanna McRee, who according to records was intoxicated, had been insulting Cannon while at the police station. But instead of ignoring McRee or deescalating the situation, Cannon assaulted her, according to the video released by Ormond Beach Police.
McRee, 47, suffered a gash to her forehead that bloodied the police station floor and required seven sutures. It appeared the injury would leave a large scar, according to the arrest affidavit.
Ormond Beach Police conducted an internal affairs investigation which sustained several violations against Cannon, including that he “used excessive force causing serious bodily injury to a prisoner” and “knowingly made untrue statements.”
Ex-Ormond Beach Police officer in court on felony battery charge
Cannon appeared in court June 23 for a case-management conference. Attorney Bryan Lambert, who spoke to the prosecutor off the record, represented Cannon. The case was then continued.
Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston set Cannon’s next hearing for Aug. 11. If a plea agreement is not reached by then, the case will be set for trial the week of Aug. 18.
Cannon declined comment after the brief hearing as he left the courthouse.
McRee intoxicated, arrested after car crash
McRee was arrested following a traffic crash on Dec. 6, 2024, in which she was intoxicated, according to a charging affidavit.
An initial test at the police station indicated McRee had a blood alcohol content of 0.24, which is three times the legal limit of 0.08, the point at which a person is considered legally intoxicated.
During the 36-minute long video, McRee arrives at the police station with her hands cuffed behind her back. She is told to sit on a bench. While Cannon and Ormond Beach Police Officer Melissa Edmonds spoke out of the camera’s frame, McRee repeatedly used expletives as she tells both officers that they do not have a right to arrest her. She also stands up and is told to sit down again. She used calls the officers “pathetic” and “cowards.”
After about 20 minutes, the two officers escort the still handcuffed McRee to a breathalyzer machine. McRee sits in front of the machine and blows into a tube. McRee tells the officers that they don’t care and that they can’t accept the truth as she interperses expletives and insults.
She called Cannon an “(expletive) coward.” Cannon continued giving her directions in a normal tone of voice to blow into the breathalyzer. She calls Cannon a “punk (expletive).”
Cannon to McRee: ‘Take a (expletive) seat!’
Cannon keeps repeating instructions to her as Edmonds stands by.
McRee shifts in her chair and Edmonds placed her hand on the back of the chair, apparently to steady it.
Back in the seat, McRee said she had to go to the bathroom. Cannon responds, “As soon as you blow in here and make it right.”
McRee tried to blow into the breathalyzer machine again, but Cannon indicates it is still not sufficient.
Edmonds told McRee all she had to do is blow in the machine one more time and she would move her to a cell, remove her handcuffs and she could go to the bathroom.
McRee said she was trying as hard as she could. She tried again and Cannon said it was still not good enough.
McRee stood up and said, “That’s enough. I’m done.”
Cannon told her “Have a sit.” Edmonds also told her to sit down.
McRee refused.
“Take a expletive seat!” Cannon then yelled.
“No,” McRee responded to Cannon.
Cannon grabbed her and threw her toward the floor, the video showed.
McRee crashed into the chair and appears to hit the wall before hitting the floor.
McRee began to cry and yell: “Oh my God!”
The two officers pulled her up off the floor and led her to a cell as McRee began to yell.
The floor was stained with McRee’s blood.
Cannon stands by as bleeding McRee falls to floor in cell
The officers put McRee in the cell. McRee yells at Cannon and walks toward him. Cannon, standing in the doorway of the cell, puts his hand up. It’s unclear from the video whether he makes contact. But McRee steps back and falls to the floor again as Cannon stands by.
Cannon watched and made no attempt to stop her fall, his arrest affidavit stated. He did not try to render first-aid.
Edmonds asked Cannon about taking McRee’s handcuffs off.
Cannon said something about her being combative but the rest was difficult to discern.
McRee faces misdemeanor charges
The incident occurred following a traffic crash on Dec. 6, 2024, in the area of 274 W. Granada Blvd., which McRee’s arrest. Prosecutors filed charges against McRee of driving under the influence with property damage or injury and prior refusal to submit to testing, both are first-degree misdemeanors.
Prosecutors declined to charge McRee with resisting an officer without violence and disorderly intoxication.
An FDLE investigator reviewed Cannon’s body-worn camera and wrote that it did not appear that McRee made any movement toward either Cannon or another officer present “prior to Officer Cannon placing his hands on her. It does not appear McRee slipped in any way before being thrown onto the ground by Officer Cannon.”
According to the affidavit, Ormond Beach Police Lt. Michael Garner reviewed video of the incident and “said he was shocked when he saw McRee stand up and Officer Cannon, with a raged look on his face, grabbed McRee and threw her down toward the chair.
Police Chief: No tolerance for Cannon’s behavior
Ormond Beach Police Chief Robert J. Godfrey stated in a previous release that the department “holds all of its officers to the highest professonal and ethical standards.”
“This incident does not represent the way we police our community. The men and women who do professional and compassionate work on a daily basis serving our citizens have no tolerance for this type of behavior. I have no tolerance for this type of behavior,” Godfrey stated in the release.
Findings of Ormond Beach Police investigation
Ormond Beach Police conducted an internal affairs investigation. The report found that Edmonds “had no reasonable ability to intervene and prevent Officer Cannon from applying excessive force to McRee.”
Edmonds radioed for medical personnel to attend to McRee immediately after she was injured, according to the internal affairs investigation.
The investigation found a number of violations on Cannon’s part.
The interal affairs investigation also found that Cannon was untruthful in reporting the incident to supervisors, fellow officers and emergency medical personnel.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Video: Ormond Beach Police officer throws handcuffed woman to the floor
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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