FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Broward Sheriff's Office detention deputy has been found not guilty on a charge of battery on an inmate.
It took jurors less than an hour to reach a verdict Thursday afternoon.
Deputy Delia Daly-England was accused of attacking an inmate who was booked into the Broward County Jail on a probation violation charge.
Lauren Militello claimed she was violently pushed to the ground and her head smashed into a wall while being escorted into the jail.
Surveillance video from the May 2012 shows Militello being dragged by the hair into a holding cell, where she claims the beating continued.
Militello testified during trial Wednesday that she has trouble walking because she has multiple sclerosis and had a sprained ankle at the time. She said Daly-England was annoyed that she wasn't moving faster, and that's why she pushed her down and dragged her by her hair.
Daly-England admitted to slapping Militello in the face because she was becoming hostile.
"I wasn't hostile to any deputy," Militello told Local 10. "I did what I was supposed to do."
Daly-England's attorney, Lewis Fishman, said the charges "should have been dropped long ago."
"This is a victory for all law enforcement officers," Daly-England said after the verdict. "Justice was served."