State attorney won't file charges against OPD officers who kicked man during arrest

ORLANDO, Fla. — State Attorney Jeff Ashton said there will be no charges filed against two Orlando police officers accused of excessive use of force in the arrest of a man. Officers David Cruz and Charles Mays came under investigation after cellphone video showed Noel Carter being kicked by officers while they were arresting him on earlier this year. In the 55-second clip, which was recorded by a resident at the Camden Orange Court apartments, an officer is seen kicking Carter, who is already on the ground. Other video that later came to light showed Carter acting in a belligerent manner. Carter is seen in the video getting kicked out of a downtown Orlando club as he was arguing with his girlfriend.

Raw: Video shows officers kicking suspect

Raw: Surveillance shows OPD officer confrontation with clubgoer

PDF: Clearance Letter from State Attorney Jeff Ashton

Cellphone video shows his interactions with Orlando police before they kicked him on a sidewalk along Orange Avenue. They asked him to leave his girlfriend alone and to walk away. Carter had his hands up, but when officers tried to handcuff him and get him onto the ground, they could not. At one point, Carter started to run. The cellphone video that sparked the investigation shows the officers kicking Carter. Witnesses told investigators that Carter was out of control. "They were telling the guy, 'Get away from the girl. Get down on the ground. Get down on the ground. You are under arrest,'" said Paul Thomas, who works at the club. "The guy still resisted. Cruz (used a Taser on) the guy. The guy still resisted. He (used a Taser on) him again (and) the guy still resisted." Carter told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that the officers "beat him to a pulp." "(I) believe their goal was to brutalize me. I believe their goal was to instigate me into a fight," he said. Orlando police said Carter was not kicked while he was handcuffed. After the announcement by Ashton, attorney Natalie Jackson, who represents Carter, told Channel 9 that she will be filing a complaint with the Justice Department on Friday and asking for federal criminal charges. She said Thursday that she’s stunned over the decision not to prosecute the officers involved. “Citizens have a legal right to run away from their abusers,” she said. She said she is also concerned about officers releasing a supplemental police report detailing much more than the first. “Our next plan of battle is to take our fight to the Department of Justice,” Jackson said. “If this can happen to Noel Carter, where the power of the government is used to ruin his life, then it can happen to any of us." Ashton, in a release, said both officers have been cleared.

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