Jurors find deputy guilty of battery as department’s problems intensify
Jurors delivered another black eye to the Broward Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday when they found Deputy Justin Lambert guilty of battery and falsifying records for his actions during and after a violent arrest five years ago.
Tuesday’s verdict was the latest blow to the department. In the past two weeks, BSO has been rocked with a string of arrests, suspensions, and firings of deputies, some for violent takedowns and falsified records.
On Tuesday, a jury found Lambert guilty of felony battery and misdemeanor falsifying records, convictions that could land Lambert in prison for almost two years. He’s free pending sentencing, which is scheduled for the end of August.
Lambert, 38, was charged in June 2015 after surveillance video surfaced of him violently arresting a man named David Gonzalez at a Delray Beach gas station more than a year earlier. The store manager told the deputies that Gonzalez had stolen candy and beer.
The deputy, a 15-year veteran, told jurors Tuesday that he pushed Gonzalez twice as the suspect aggressively moved toward him, before pushing him to the ground, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“Is he supposed to wait before he gets punched before he responds with force?’ Lambert’s attorney Erick Schwarzreich, asked the jurors, the Sun Sentinel reported. “What he did was reasonable.“
Four other Broward Sheriff’s deputies have been charged with crimes related to violent arrests in the past two weeks. Also during that time frame, two other deputies were fired for their actions during last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and staff were killed and 17 others injured.