Broward Sheriff says battery arrests of detention deputies a ‘miscarriage of justice'

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony is speaking out after a sergeant and two deputies in BSO's Department of Detention were arrested for allegedly battering an inmate.

Tony held a news conference Friday morning where he called the arrests of Sgt. Zakiyyah Polk, Deputy Denia Walker, and Deputy Cleopatra Johnnie a "miscarriage of justice."

The sergeant and deputies were arrested last week on aggravated battery charges in connection with a Oct. 4, 2022 encounter with a woman who'd been booked into jail for DUI.

Broward Sheriff's Office

Broward Sheriff's Office

According to an arrest warrant, the woman had been told to change into jail clothing when a verbal argument ensued.

The woman was shoved backwards by Polk, before Polk, Walker and Johnnie allegedly punched and kicked the woman several times, the warrant said.

Walker used pepper spay, while Polk deployed her Taser, the warrant said.

The woman was treated for a hematoma below her right eye, bruising and swelling to her face, and Taser prongs to her back, the warrant said.

But Tony said the woman became combative and attacked the deputies, leaving them injured. He also released a video Friday that showed the encounter and captured the woman throwing her bra at the deputies.

"The suspect decides she’s going to be a smarty pants and throw the bra and try to hit the deputy in her face, the deputy catches it, pushes her back to disengage and then you have this suspect decided that she’s going to lunge forward and try to assault this deputy," Tony said.

What happened next occurred off camera, in an area where inmates are provided privacy to change into jail clothes. That's where Tony said the woman bit Polk's thumb, breaking it.

"You don't get a free pass to strike, injure, hurt or harm any of my goddamn deputies in this agency. None of them," Tony said. "Did our deputies strike her? You better believe they did. If you bite me on the hand, and decided that you're gonna sink your teeth into me, I'm gonna strike you in your face until you let go, or I'm gonna strike you until you don't have any teeth in your mouth."

Prosecutors looked at the same video and chose to believe the inmate, 38-year-old Samantha Caputo, when she denied biting the deputy, whose injuries Tony put on display Friday.

"I will not accept the nature of these charges against these women. The video is crystal clear that they had demonstrated only the level of force necessary to get this individual back in compliance," Tony said. "This is most certainly a miscarriage of justice and exhibits signs and symptoms of public corruption in itself, favors for friends."

Tony didn't give specifics or share evidence about public corruption but called out the Broward State Attorney's Office for charging the deputies.

"What has been going on over the last two years that this case has sat on someone's desk, that all of a sudden it's time to charge these deputies inappropriately with aggravated battery?" Tony said. "Yes, it's time for us to speculate, don't forget the fact that we are also investigators folks. The state attorney cases, his success that he has, is based on the backs of the law enforcement investigators and our ability to put thorough and comprehensive cases together in front of them that they can prosecute. So if this idea that we're gonna miss the bread crumbs that suggests that there is something going wrong, that there's a possibility that there has been some inappropriate behavior to take place, I'm going to say it, and I don't care whose feelings get hurt because they didn't care about these women being dragged out on national TV in handcuffs and their families and their kids going through this torment and everything else it's costing them, their dignity, their pride, their lack of sleep. I'm not guessing, I know what it feels like because I've gone through it. So the state better get this right."

Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor said Friday he was disappointed the sheriff would speculate about corruption in his office and asked that he submit his allegation in writing.

Caputo's DUI case was dismissed after a state expert said the prescription drugs in her system were not consistent with impairment or the behavior on the video.

She was also charged with battery on Polk, but that charge was dropped last year by prosecutors after they saw the video.

Caputo’s attorney told NBC6 the sheriff was fabricating and exaggerating evidence to defend his deputies. He also said a lawsuit against BSO was being considered.

Tony wants the charges against his deputies to be dropped and said the deputies will be reinstated after an internal affairs investigation was completed. He also said BSO will pay for their attorneys.

"These women were handcuffed, arrested, and their reputations have been destroyed," Tony said. "I will not allow these women to sit in shame and embarrassment and have to pay for high-price attorneys when they've been righteous."