FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The verdict came late. For Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Steven Pohorence, it came very late — more than two years after he was accused of brutality, knocking over a kneeling protester who had her hands up during a Black Lives Matter rally following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
For Broward County, the May 31, 2020, encounter was quickly overshadowed by another, one involving an officer who fired a rubber bullet that struck another peaceful protester in the face. As the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum across the country, accountability was coming to Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione was not spared — he was ousted within two months.
But in some of the highest-profile cases, the zeal to send a message to law enforcement was not shared by the citizens who sat on juries.
Pohorence, 31, was just the latest example. On Tuesday evening, a jury found him not guilty of battery. They watched the same video prosecutors watched, and they considered some of the same testimony that the public was presented when he was arrested.
“There is no doubt that cellphone video can be a valuable tool in recording events as they unfold,” said Scott Moseley, president of the Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police. “But a few seconds of video out of context can also create a false narrative. In this case, that false narrative defamed and derailed the career of Officer Steven Pohorence.”
Cellphone video and surveillance video also factored into the prosecution and later exoneration of Broward Sheriff Deputies Christopher Krickovich and Gregory LaCerra, who were accused of using excessive force during the 2019 arrest of teenager Deluca Rolle at a crowded parking lot in Tamarac.
Then there was Deputy Kevin Fanti, who was seen on surveillance video punching a handcuffed suspect waiting to be booked into jail in June 2020. Surveillance video was shown to the public, sparking outrage. Five months ago, it was shown to a Broward jury, sparking a not guilty verdict.
The higher-profile losses may overshadow different outcomes seen by the Broward State Attorney’s Office, which secured guilty verdicts against law enforcement officers for falsifying records, theft and official misconduct. There was the detention deputy, Bonika Sands, who was found guilty last year of needlessly pepper-spraying a female inmate. And Justin Lambert, who in 2019 was found guilty of using excessive force on a drunken, belligerent man he was arresting in Deerfield Beach.
There was video in most of the cases, but defense lawyers — such as Michael Dutko, who represented Pohorence; Jeremy Kroll, who represented Krickovich; and Eric Schwartzreich, who represented LaCerra — were able to use it to their clients’ advantage.
“The abundance of video has made it challenging for defense lawyers, to be sure, but in cases involving cops, they’ve been helpful in showing what really happened,” Schwartzreich said. “The problem with any one video is that they don’t capture all the different angles. You may not be seeing everything that was happening.”
Some activists believe prosecutors only act when a public outcry forces their hand, said Marq Mitchell, founder and executive director of Chainless Change, a Fort Lauderdale justice reform group. “You have other cases where the public, no one has seen video, and no one gets charged,” he said. “It requires a strong commitment to hold law enforcement accountable even when people aren’t looking.”
Pohorence declined an interview after the verdict was reached in his case. His attorney, Dutko, said Pohorence wants his job back. He’s been suspended for more than two years and doesn’t want to make public statements that could, like the video, come back to haunt him. Pohorence had a lengthy history of forceful interactions with the public prior to the May 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. In each of those incidents, his conduct was affirmed after review — deemed consistent with department policy. He was even commended.
The officer who fired the rubber bullet that wounded a protester was also found to have done nothing wrong after an internal affairs investigation. The victim in that case filed a federal lawsuit that is pending.
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