Orlando Sentinel

Orlando cop who took battery plea suspended

- By Grace Toohey

The Orlando Police Department officer who last year pleaded no contest to battery after he was accused of hitting another man in the face was recently suspended by the agency following an internal review.

Officer Cedrick Hinkles opted to forfeit 80 hours of paid time off in March after OPD investigat­ors found he violated the agency’s standards of conduct by approachin­g a man with whom he’d already had a “prior altercatio­n,” according to his disciplina­ry memo.

Hinkles “could have elected to avoid the confrontat­ion by creating distance from this person,” wrote OPD Deputy Chief José Vélez in the memo. Vélez found it was not a “heat of the moment confrontat­ion” and, though Hinkles was off duty and not in uniform, “his actions brought negative attention and discredit to the Orlando Police Department.”

The man accused Hinkles of holding a gun to his head in December 2019 and hitting him in the face weeks later, both amid a conflict between the men involving Hinkles’ wife. The first incident was not prosecuted, and the second led to Hinkles pleading no contest to misdemeano­r battery.

Hinkles, however, remains under a restrainin­g order through June 2022, which the victim requested through the court after the two incidents.

The court order, issued in summer 2020, prohibits Hinkles from contacting the man, engaging in any other

violence or possessing firearms — though an exception was made for the officer to use a firearm at work. He was also ordered to attend an anger management class.

In his interview with OPD investigat­ors, Hinkles acknowledg­ed he and the man had an encounter in a parking lot in December 2019, but said the men only talked and denied having a firearm, records show. The victim told OPD Hinkles stopped him from leaving a parking lot, then held a gun to his head, threatenin­g him and telling him to leave town, the report said.

In the second incident, Hinkles said he saw the man “stick his foot out in front of Officer Hinkles, which caused Officer Hinkles to stick out his arm.”

“I would call it... the term would be like mush to his shoulder area,” Hinkles told OPD investigat­ors. The man said Hinkles hit him in the mouth, making him bleed.

OPD investigat­ors found “insufficie­nt evidence” in the alleged firearm assault, only suspending Hinkles in the misdemeano­r battery case.

Harold D. Thompson, the attorney who represente­d the victim, said he remains concerned by how officials handed the incidents, and by their outcomes. His client wanted to see Hinkles lose his officer certificat­ion, because officers have access to informatio­n and weapons, which could make it easier to find someone and harm them.

“It’s just very concerning,” Thompson said. “A person who cannot control themselves emotionall­y, and potentiall­y having the means to impact people’s lives . ... You would hope in situations of high stress or emotion, [officers are] still able to exercise sound judgement.”

Thompson said he was glad the judge granted the restrainin­g order, but said his client still doesn’t feel safe.

“He’s definitely not happy with what happened, but he just doesn’t want to have any more incidents with this Mr. Hinkles,” Thompson said.

Hinkles’ attorney, David Bigney, declined to comment on the internal investigat­ion because he wasn’t involved in it, but said he was concerned that the hearings for the restrainin­g order were held virtually, because of COVID-19.

“I think the judge did what they could have given the circumstan­ces,” he said. “... I’m not suggesting the results would have been different, but they might have . ... It’s just a lot more difficult for a judge or jury to evaluate the testimony of somebody when they’re not sitting in front of them.”

The battery case has since placed Hinkles on the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office Brady list, which tracks officers and law enforcemen­t employees with compromise­d credibilit­y.

Hinkles was involved in the violent arrest of Markeith Loyd in 2017, during which video footage showed officers kicking and punching the accused cop-killer as he surrendere­d, causing him to lose an eye. However, Hinkles and three other OPD officers were cleared of wrongdoing by the Brevard-Seminole State Attorney’s Office in that case.

Hinkles has been an OPD officer since 2004, and had been assigned to the Drug Enforcemen­t Administra­tion’s High Intensity Drug Traffickin­g Area program as of 2020. OPD spokespers­on Autumn Jones said Hinkles is currently assigned to the airport division.

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