Fired OPD cop tells his side as he tries to regain old job
William Escobar was in the living room of his new home with his newborn son in June 2014 when a cellphone video of an Orlando police officer using force during an arrest came on the local TV news.
Escobar was the officer in the video, and even he had to admit it didn’t make him look good. After the recording came out, the Orlando officer who’d been with the department for two years was thrust
into the spotlight about how cops use force.
“The first thing I did was call my mother,” Escobar said Tuesday during an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “I said, ‘Prepare yourself because this video is on the news, and it looks damaging, but don’t be quick to take it for what it’s worth.’ She started crying on the phone.”
It depicted him kicking and punching then-25-year-old Refus Holloway, a former military-police officer, during a March 2014 arrest. It would later lead to his firing from the Orlando Police Department and criminal charges against him of misdemeanor battery and perjury. He was acquitted by a jury on the charges earlier this month.
The incident unfolded when Escobar and another officer responded to a call about a fight in progress in the Parramore area. When they arrived, the fight was over. But Escobar said the other officer approached a man who said he had a gun and no concealed-weapons permit. The officer took the gun from the man.
That’s when Holloway, according to Escobar, started charging at the other officer. Escobar said the other officer, with his gun drawn, ordered Holloway to the ground, but he kept coming.
“At that moment, it shocked me,” said Escobar, now 26. “I couldn’t believe what was unfolding. It was like a movie, but it was real life. I knew my life was in danger. That person [Holloway] was not afraid of the police.”
2 different accounts
Police were able to get Holloway in handcuffs and on the ground. But Escobar said Holloway kicked him in the leg and was trying to get up. It’s at this point Holloway’s sister started recording the incident.
Holloway rolled over, and Escobar said he thought Holloway was going to kick him again. Then Escobar hit the handcuffed Holloway.
“He was very aggressive from the first time we made contact with him up until the last second we had contact with him,” said Escobar. “He was aggressive, and he was resistant to the arrest the whole time.”
Escobar said he felt compelled to use force against Holloway because he was not being compliant.
According to Escobar, he didn’t know what type of handto-hand combat training Holloway might have.
“Just because you don’t have your hands readily available doesn’t mean you can’t use your legs,” Escobar said. “Your legs are a lot stronger than your arms.”
Escobar said Holloway could have taken him to the ground with his legs, and the situation could have turned much more dangerous.
“I don’t want to give someone opportunity to injure me,” he said. “It can quickly turn bad in a matter of seconds.”
Escobar said he felt like he didn’t do anything wrong.
His criminal attorney, Mark Horwitz, said it’s like Monday morning quarterbacking.
“It is always easier than living through it and making these split-second decisions,” he said.
Holloway gave a much different account during the trial. He said he was just trying to break up a fight and was being compliant with police officers. The State Attorney’s Office decided not prosecute Holloway on charges stemming from the incident.
His attorney, Bradley Laurent, said he believes juries hesitate to convict police officers.
“Whatever happened before the video started is irrelevant,” said Laurent. “The reality is if that had been anybody else other than a police officer in that video, he would have been convicted.”
‘I was devastated’
Escobar and his family moved to Central Florida from Los Angeles when he was 6. Escobar attended Dr. Phillips High School during his freshman and sophomore years and Cypress Creek for the last two, graduating in 2007.
He attended the University of Central Florida for two years and started at the police academy in 2010. He began working as a community-service officer with OPD in 2011 and was hired as a fulltime officer in 2012.
Escobar always had wanted to be a police officer.
“You’re out there helping people who are truly in need — basically representing the greater good,” he said. “When a person really needs help, you’re that first person they call.”
He was assigned to patrol and covered the Parramore area west of downtown.
For Escobar, the past 18 months have been difficult.
Pending an internal-affairs investigation by the department, Escobar had been put on desk duty in June 2014 — months after the Holloway arrest. It was a few weeks later when the video came out in the media.
Escobar said when internal affairs initially questioned him, he didn’t recall the incident because he had been on so many calls in that area.
The State Attorney’s Office charged him with misdemeanor battery and perjury in January.
Then, about a month later, he was fired from OPD.
An internal-affairs report said he violated OPD’s standards of conduct, used excessive force, filed a false report, mistreated Holloway and failed to obey laws and procedures.
Chief John Mina said at a news conference that Escobar’s actions “did not reflect the overall actions, performance and behavior of the Orlando Police Department or our commitment and dedication to keeping this community safe.”
Mina did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Escobar described being an Orlando police officer as his “dream job,” and it was taken away.
“I was devastated,” he said. “I felt betrayed. I felt like I didn’t have the support I needed. In my personal opinion, I thought it was politically motivated because of the national atmosphere on policing.”
Escobar is going through the arbitration process to get his job back. He said he hired his own attorney after Orlando’s Fraternal Order of Police declined to take his case.
FOP President Shawn Dunlap said he did not know why the union declined the case, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the union is against Escobar’s rehiring. Dunlap declined to say whether he supported Escobar’s being rehired with the department.
‘God was in control’
Escobar is married with two children, ages 18 months and 3 months,
Since he was fired, he’s been working at Canon Solutions, delivering copier materials to companies. It’s not his dream job, but it helps him support his family.
“Bills still have to be paid; you have to find a way to put food on the table,” he said. “Just because that [law enforcement] part stops doesn’t mean my life stops.”
A religious person who felt he was treated unfairly by the media, Escobar put his faith in God.
“When they were reading the verdict, my heart was pounding through my chest,” he said. “I could barely breathe. Even though my physical body was nervous, my mind was sound. I knew God was in control.”
Clearing his name was important, he said.
He named his son after him, and he felt he needed to clear his name so his son wouldn’t have to be in the shadows of his actions.
“My biggest thing was I had to stand up for what’s right and clear my name,” he said. “And that’s what I will continue to do.”