$150,000 Settlement But No Charges After Schizophrenic Florida Detainee Killed by Jail Guards
On June 7, 2024, officials in Florida’s Marion County agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a suit filed by the survivors of Scott L. Whitley III, 46, a diagnosed schizophrenic who died naked and Tasered under a pile-on by guards at the County Jail on November 25, 2022. The County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) claimed he was combative with guards, but Jail surveillance video refuted that, according to the Ocala Gazette, which won a court battle to obtain the footage but was not allowed to publish or share it.
Whitley was arrested on November 16, 2022, by MCSO deputies summoned to the home of his aging parents, who had obtained a court order to remove him for fear his mental illness would provoke him to harm them. Standing 5’11” and weighing 335 pounds, he was booked into the jail and held in solitary confinement to protect other detainees from harm, too. Whitley was also denied clothing and bedding to protect him from self-harm, jailers said. His schizophrenia was unmedicated at the time.
Nine days later, jailers claimed that he “resisted being handcuffed and would not comply” during a cell inspection. In response, guards sprayed him with pepper foam. MCSO insisted that Whitley continued to defy orders. But the Gazette said the video showed he then sat naked on the toilet as ordered. His hands were raised when at least six guards entered the cell, forced him to the ground and piled on top of him, repeatedly shocking him with a Taser. Whitley screamed for help and pleaded for the guards to stop while he was put in restraints; he was still being pinned down when he stopped breathing. But guards waited six minutes before calling 911.
His death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office. A lawsuit filed by his family in 2023 detailed that Whitley died due to “multiple blunt force traumas to the head, neck, torso and extremities, and deep tissue hemorrhaging.” The Gazette and Reason Magazine then filed public records requests for the surveillance video, but they were denied. County Sheriff Billy Woods objected, citing an exemption in Florida’s Sunshine Law to prevent disclosure of security features in government buildings.
MCSO also cited Marsy’s Law, which protects privacy interests of crime victims; an attorney for the agency argued that the guards were “victims” of attempted battery—because Whitley refused to comply with their cell inspection. But in an unrelated case, the state Supreme Court ruled in November 2023 that Marsy’s Law could not be used to protect the identities of law enforcement officers. See: City of Tallahassee v. Fla. Police Benev. Assoc., 375 So.3d 178 (Fla. 2023). The Gazette then filed suit to obtain the security video. Whitley’s sister, who had already seen the footage, testified for the newspaper at a court hearing that “[i]t was barbaric.”
“I saw it with my own two eyes,” she stated. “They repeatedly kept tasing him and also pepper sprayed and he was pleading for help. I don’t know how more compliant you can be when you’re sitting on a toilet completely naked with your hands up saying, ‘Wait.’” In a ruling on September 19, 2024, a state court held that the Gazette could view the footage of Whitley’s death, but it couldn’t publish the video due to security concerns. See: Ocala Gazelle v. Marion Cty. Sheriff’s Off., Fla. 5th Jud. Cir. (Lake Cty.), Case No. 2024-CA-000407.
After reviewing the footage, the paper reported that it conflicted with the MCSO narrative and that Whitley “exhibited no physical violence toward [the guards] before he was rushed to the floor, restrained and hit with a Taser 27 times over 12 minutes.” Unsurprisingly, an MCSO spokesperson disputed that, saying that the Gazette “left out key components of this story and offered only a narrow view into the incident(s).”
By that point, county officials had agreed to the settlement with Whitley’s estate, which included no admission of liability. The federal court for the Middle District of Florida granted dismissal of claims against individual defendants and Sheriff Woods on June 12 and 20, 2024, respectively. The estate was represented by attorneys James M. Slater of Slater Legal PLLC in Tallahassee and Michael E. Levine of Stewart Tilghman Fox & Bianchi PA in Miami. See: Whitley v. Woods 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104589 (M.D. Fla.); and 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109042 (M.D. Fla.).
The Gazette also obtained MCSO reports for 23 in-custody deaths since 2021. The agency said it couldn’t provide earlier reports because they were destroyed six months after release of the detainee involved. Asked by the newspaper how a dead detainee could be called “released,” MCSO attorney Marissa Duquette resorted to sarcasm:
“Would you argue that they are still in custody?” she quipped.
Meanwhile none of the guards involved in Whitley’s death was criminally charged.
Additional sources: Ocala Gazette, Reason Magazine
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