A Tennessee man says he has retained attorney Benjamin Crump to represent him after videos showed a Daytona Beach police officer striking him repeatedly in the head while he was on the ground and in handcuffs.
David L. Anderson, 27, of Madison, Tennessee, was arrested on a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer and an open-container violation at 12:36 a.m. March 12. Records show he was released from jail later that day on $500 bond.
Daytona Beach police released body-camera footage showing Officer Joel Llinas atop Anderson, who is in handcuffs and lying face-down on the ground. As Anderson squirms, Llinas raises his fist and punches Anderson’s head at least four times.
Anderson told The News-Journal on March 14 that he hired Crump — a nationally recognized trial lawyer whose clients have included the families of George Floyd and Trayvon Martin — and didn’t want to comment on his arrest.
“Let’s see what happens, hopefully some justice,” Anderson said.
As of March 14, Crump has not confirmed his involvement in the case.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young has called a video he’d seen of the incident “concerning,” and said March 13 he placed the officer, Llinas, on administrative duties and ordered a professional standards investigation.
Other city officials, including Mayor Derrick Henry, have expressed concerns about the arrest.
“What we see in the video is incongruent with the standards that we expect from those sworn to protect and serve our community,” Henry said in a Facebook post. “The images in the video are troubling, and our community deserves clear answers about what occurred.”
The Coastal Florida Police Benevolent Association posted a message March 13 thanking Young “for taking a measured approach and letting the facts, and not hysterics, rule the day.”
The message notes the suspect was “not cooperative,” and “actively resisting arrest” while ignoring the officer’s commands. “We will vigorously defend our officer, regardless of what the armchair quarterbacking and showboating career politicians and local activists — all of whom have exactly zero training in law enforcement — think of the matter,” the statement concludes.
Daytona NAACP, Black clergy call community meeting for March 16
Jermaine Fuller, president of the Daytona Beach Black Clergy Alliance, organized a community meeting with Cynthia Slater, president of the Daytona Beach NAACP. The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 16 at Greater New Zion Primitive Baptist Church, 201 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where Fuller is pastor.
Fuller told The News-Journal he intends to discuss not just the arrest of Anderson but other concerns. It’s unclear whether Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young or other city officials will be involved.
On Facebook, Fuller had shared the initial video, which he said was taken by a Bethune-Cookman University student.
“Officers are not above the law. Beating and punching any citizen already on the ground and handcuffed is COWARDICE, but to make matters worse, you do this in front of college students in a college area. There is nothing justifiable about this,” Fuller posted on Facebook.
What happened on Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard?
A Daytona Beach incident report states that on March 12, Anderson was spotted with an open, half-empty bottle of Patron tequila.
Police body cam footage shows Llinas telling Anderson — wearing an Omega Psi Phi T-shirt — to pour out the contents or “go to jail” on an open-container violation, which is a misdemeanor.
“No, you pour it out,” Anderson told Officer Llinas, who took the container from Anderson’s left hand and dumped it. In the meantime, with his right hand Anderson tossed what appears to be a cork underhanded toward Llinas. It’s unclear whether the cork hit Llinas.
Anderson began to walk away and Llinas jumped him from behind, the video shows.
The police report states Llinas told Anderson he was under arrest and attempted to handcuff him, but Anderson “continued to resist officers, tensing his body and pulling his arms away,” and “ignored all lawful commands given by officers to stop resisting.”
Llinas activated his Tazer7 and told Anderson continued resistance would result in him being tased. Anderson was then placed in handcuffs, the report states.
Anderson’s twin brother, Victor, who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing law enforcement, “attempted to pull the defendant away from officers,” the report states.
Daytona police officer uses ‘distractionary blows to gain compliance’
When Llinas moved David Anderson, who remained handcuffed, to the hood of his patrol car, the defendant “began to push back on officers as they attempted to search him,” the report states.
At one point, the body cam footage shows David Anderson asking why he was being arrested and when told he had thrown a cork at Llinas and was being charged with battery, Anderson laughed.
“You call that battery? When I threw the cork at you?” David Anderson said. “Almost took you out, didn’t I?”
Llinas responded: “I don’t care.”
David Anderson “intentionally and unlawfully bit” Llinas’ wrist, and then Llinas “escorted” the defendant to the ground, the report states, adding Llinas was not injured by the bite.
Once David Anderson was lying face down on the ground, with Llinas sitting atop him, the officer punched Anderson once, the video shows. Anderson yelled, “You’re weak!”
Moments later, Llinas struck Anderson three more times in what the report describes as “distractionary blows to gain compliance from the defendant.”
A Reels video taken by a bystander and widely circulated on Facebook shows Llinas punching Anderson, who’s on the ground, while a crowd reacts.
“Let him go!” one woman yells.
After screams, a voice cries out: “What are you doing? What are you doing?”
B-CU students react to arrest video
Anderson’s arrest took place on Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard, about a block from the campus of Bethune-Cookman University.
While many students near campus on March 13 were unaware of the arrest and use-of-force investigation, those who were aware voiced concerns.
Jaden Barber called it “crazy to see” an incident like this happen close to home.
“You see it in videos and you never expect for it to really happen this close to you,” Barber said.
Bryant Smith said the officers “could have handled it better.”
“I know they are being careful and everything, because they really don’t know what that person has,” Smith said, adding that officer could have set the bottle down instead of dumping its liquid content on the street.
He said he feels the officer’s “aggressive” approach led to the situation’s escalation.
To Kytana Violet, what happened with Anderson “doesn’t surprise me.”
“But it does make me very angry,” Violet said.
Violet, who described herself as disabled, walks with the help of a cane, which she fears could be mistaken for a “weapon” one day if “I come across the wrong police person.”
The officers’ handling of the situation “doesn’t make any sense,” and appeared “excessive,” Violet said.
“It doesn’t give me any hope that there are changes being made,” said Violet, who is pursuing a degree in criminal justice. “There is a lot of reform going on, but for (Black Americans), there’s no changes being made.”
Ta’niya Philpart dwelled on the proximity to B-CU.
“Like, that could have been one of us,” Philpart said, adding she has “four little brothers, and if that ever were to happen to them, I’d be so upset.”
− Staff Writer Frank Fernandez contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Man hires attorney Ben Crump after controversial Daytona police arrest
Reporting by Mark Harper and Brenno Carillo, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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