An OPD cop was acquitted
of charges he used excessive force on a suspect in 2014.
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A jury on Wednesday acquitted an Orlando police officer of charges that he used excessive force on a handcuffed suspect last year.
The jury deliberated for about two hours in the case against officer Chase Fugate, a member of the department’s tactical unit targeting violent crime. After the verdict, Fugate shook hands with his lawyers and officers who attended the three-day trial. He left without commenting.
“Today we’ve obviously seen the system works,” said Shawn Dunlap, head of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 25 representing the police department’s officers and sergeants. “At the end of the day, Officer Fugate is very happy to get to work.”
Fugate was assigned to desk duty after a June 13, 2014, incident when other officers accused him of punching a handcuffed suspect. Fugate said he didn’t know the suspect was handcuffed.
“The jury got it right,” said Orlando defense attorney David Bigney. “They took into consideration the inexperience and different levels of training of the [accusing] officers.”
Now that Fugate’s criminal case has concluded, the police department will proceed with its internal investigation, and he may still face departmental discipline, according to an OPD spokeswoman.
The incident last year happened after Fugate tried to stop what appeared to be a stolen car in southwest Orlando. The convertible driven by Randall “Nucci” McFadden, now 24, was abandoned outside a Ramada Inn near Interstate 4 and John Young Parkway. The first officers at the scene were Officer Christopher Ehlers and Officer Kyle Medvetz, who were not members of the tactical unit. Tactical officers testified Tuesday that Medvetz and Ehlers did not properly detain the suspects by forcing them to sit on the ground with legs crossed.
When Fugate showed, he walked up to McFadden and knocked him to the ground, according to testimony. Medvetz and Ehlers reported him for excessive use of force, according to testimony. During Wednesday’s testimony, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement expert on use of force testified Fugate used a state-approved technique to prevent McFadden from fleeing. Special Agent Jason Knowles also said Medvetz and Bigelow mistook a shoulder strike for a right-hook punch to the face.
Assistant State Attorney Ryan Williams attacked Fugate’s honesty and questioned the credibility of police witnesses supporting his claim of having done nothing wrong. Williams told the jury one of Fugate’s former supervisors gave him a 24-hour warning to come up with an explanation for his unreported act. Williams said an officer in Fugate’s unit released McFadden’s cousin the same night without taking a statement and no one questioned the teen for two months.
It is unknown if Fugate will return to one of the department’s three tactical units.