A former Ormond Beach police officer was found guilty on Tuesday, July 29, for throwing a handcuffed woman to the floor and later lying to investigators.
Jacob Ryan Cannon, 33, was charged with felony battery, a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Cannon resigned from the police force on Jan. 31. He was sentenced to six months in county jail, with two years of probation, and will need to undergo mental health evaluations, according to Volusia County Circuit Judge Kathryn Weston.
He was also ordered to pay restitution to the victim, Shanna McRee, but Weston reserved 60 days to decide the amount.
“Ms. McRee has a one to two-inch scar right across the center of her forehead,” Weston said during sentencing. “She had seven stitches for that….It’s glaringly obvious, and that’s something she’s going to have to live with unless she gets plastic surgery to get rid of it. But, it’s red, it’s raised a bit, and it’s readily available to anybody who looks at her.”
Weston also rejected a shorter sentence, in part because of how the incident was handled.
“After the victim was injured, she was placed in a holding cell, and I think ignored,” Weston said. “…No one attempted to tend to her or give her any kind of aid, and then there were lies to the supervisor about how it occurred.”
Shanna McRee, 47, was arrested for driving and crashing while intoxicated on Dec. 6, according to an arrest affidavit. During her processing, McRee was verbally abusing the officers. At one point, while taking a breathalyzer test, she refused to give a second sample and began standing up and raising her voice.
That’s when Cannon began yelling and threw her to the ground, according to the arrest affidavit. McRee appeared to hit the wall before hitting the floor.
Ormond Beach Police then conducted an internal affairs investigation and found Cannon used “excessive force” and lied to investigators.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Former Ormond Beach police officer sentenced for excessive force
Reporting by Gabriel Velasquez Neira, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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