JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An administrative review is underway at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office after video of a violent arrest went viral.
It shows officers holding down 24-year-old Le’Keian Woods on Friday.
At one point, the video shows them one of the officers pulling him up while handcuffed and then slamming him back down on the ground.
You could see Woods’ face covered in blood.
He’s facing several drug trafficking charges and was initially pulled over for a seatbelt violation, according to an attorney hired by his family.
But right now, his mother says she is more worried about how he was arrested, not why.
RAW FOOTAGE: Cellphone video captures violent arrest in Jacksonville. (Warning: Graphic footage. Multiple expletives heard in video.)
“It hurt,” she said. “It hurts really bad. I can’t protect him, I can’t help him. I can’t even talk to him, touch him or hug him. I can’t do anything.”
Sheriff T.K. Waters addressed reporters after the video went viral, saying “Every allegation of misconduct or excessive force -– every single one -- is taken very seriously, and we’ll review those bodycams and eventually you will see the bodycams, and you’re going to see contextual information start to finish.”
Woods was taken to jail after he was treated at the hospital for his injuries.
Civil rights attorney Harry Daniels, who has been retained by Woods’ family, will be holding a news conference on behalf of the family on Tuesday.
“If this video of the officers repeatedly assaulting Le’Keian, slamming his head in the ground and tossing him around like a ragdoll while he’s handcuffed and defenseless isn’t enough to convince you that these officers need to be off the street, just look at Le’Keian’s face,” Daniels said in a statement Sunday. “He looks like he just went 12 rounds with a professional boxer. He’s lucky to be alive.”
According to Local 10 News partner News4Jax, Woods is charged with armed trafficking in methamphetamine, armed trafficking in cocaine, armed possession of a controlled substance, resisting an officer with violence, altering, destroying, concealing or removing records, and possessing a controlled substance without a prescription.
He is also charged with two counts of violating probation and there is a hold from Leon County in connection to a 2018 homicide.
News4Jax reported that Woods also previously faced a second-degree murder charge in an attempted robbery during a drug deal in a Tallahassee apartment complex where his roommate was shot to death.
The identities of the officers involved in Woods’ arrest have not yet been released.