OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — An Osceola County deputy may face criminal charges for battery.
The sheriff said the deputy was suspended after hitting a man handcuffed to a hospital bed, and that both the victim and the deputy may have suffered a mental health episode.
The deputy in question was suspended and stripped of his gun and badge after the attack.
Watch the bodycam footage below. Warning: Contains graphic content:
The sheriff’s office hasn’t released the incident report yet.
The sheriff said he learned on May 6 that deputy Dirio Sinclair hit a man who was under arrest and handcuffed to a bed at AdventHealth’s Partin Settlement location, where he was supposed to receive mental health treatment.
“He attempted to stand up, pull on the rail he was handcuffed to and the deputy was ordering him to lay back down and that’s when they started arguing,” Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez aid. " And that’s when the altercation between both of them began.”
Footage shows there’s a female deputy who steps into the scene, intervenes and makes the other deputy leave the room.
Sinclair has served about two years with the department. Lopez said Sinclair did not have a disciplinary history.
“when I saw the video, it looks like two individuals in crisis to be honest with you, but since I took office I promised transparency and we’re always going to hold our deputies to a higher standard,” Lopez said.
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