Attorneys for Le’Keian Woods, a 24-year-old Black man from Florida whose violent arrest was captured in viral video footage, said he was in excruciating pain.
Footage of the arrest, on Friday, 29 September, showed Woods being beaten by officers with the Jacksonville sheriff’s office (JSO).
“I believe he has a ruptured kidney, migraine headaches and he’s hurting,” Marwan Porter, an attorney, told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s hurting really, really, really bad.”
Porter compared the police actions to tactics seen in professional mixed martial arts, given that Woods was repeatedly punched and slammed to the ground.
“It’s like a UFC ground-and-pound beatdown by trained professionals – allegedly,” Porter said.
Another attorney for Woods, Broderick Taylor, said: “He still can’t see properly. His face is still completely purple. He can see that I’m there, that there’s a body there. But I don’t think he knows what I look like.”
Woods was arrested after a traffic stop. Bystander video went viral, showing officers repeatedly punching Woods, who was briefly hospitalized.
The Jacksonville sheriff, TK Waters, defended the officers’ actions in the video, claiming the use of force was justified. The officers involved were not removed from active duty.
Porter told reporters: “The sheriff said their conduct is in line with JSO procedures. So if that’s true, getting a UFC beatdown for refusing to put your hand behind your back is consistent with JSO procedures. That’s problematic.”
Attorneys for Woods called on the US Department of Justice to investigate the incident and the Jacksonville sheriff’s office, following previous reports of police brutality and excessive use of force.
They also called into question the charges filed against Woods – resisting arrest with violence, armed trafficking in cocaine and methamphetamine, and other felonies – as well as the justification for detaining him, as he was not the driver who was stopped for an alleged seat belt violation.
