Cop gets probation in clash with disabled vet
Testifying Wednesday in his trial on battery and criminal mischief charges, Riviera Beach Police Sgt. Garry Wilson said he lost his “composure” during an encounter last August with disabled U.S. Army veteran Isiah James over a parking space.
But Wilson said he felt threatened when the 6-foot-7, 300-pound James approached him while holding an iPhone and angrily mouthing profanities— sohe knocked the device out of James’ hand.
“I never touched him,” Wilson, 48, told the jury, which a few times watched a video of the confrontation that James recorded on the phone. “He violated my personal space.”
A Palm Beach County jury decided the 20-year veteran cop was not guilty of battery against James, 29, who testified Tuesday that he was hit on the hand by the officer and the phone crashed to the pavement.
The jury of four women and two men, however, convicted Wilson of criminal mischief, less than $200, after initially telling Judge Sheree Cunningham they were split on the verdict for that misdemeanor charge. Deliberations took about two hours.
The judge sentenced Wilson to six months probation, which can be reduced later to three months. The charge is typically punishable by up to 60 days in jail.
Cunningham also did not enter a guilty judgment for Wilson, which means there will not
be a criminal conviction on his record.
The judge ordered Wilson to attend a four-hour anger management class, and reimburse James for damages, in an amount to be determined later. And the officer must not contact James, a resident of Riviera Beach.
Wilson, whowas a road patrol supervisor at the time, is currently serving on an administrative assignment for the police department. “That (assignment) will continue pending the outcome of the department’s internal affairs investigation,” police department spokeswoman Rose Ann Brown said after the verdict.
It would be up to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to determine whether the case will have any impact on Wilson’s ability to continue serving as a cop.
James said hewas upset because Wilson questioned whether James had the right to park in a handicapped space outside Walgreens, at 2501 Broadway.
Wilson said James “didn’t look handicapped” so he asked for proof, which angered James and prompted him to shoot the video.
Wilson was at the store buying a Mountain Dew, and James was there with his dad to buy liquor.
What Wilson didn’t know at the time: James had the credentials to park legally in the designated parking space, because of various injuries he suffered as a combat soldier during tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assistant State Attorney Marci Rex had argued Wilson “lost his temper” and acted “willfully and maliciously” when he smacked James’ hand.
The prosecutor said Wilson couldn’t have been threatened because he never called for backup or arrested James.
“You can’t touch someone against their will and you can’t damage their property,” Rex said in her closing argument.
But defense attorney Scott Richardson said the prosecutor did not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Richardson pointed out that six times on the video James accused Wilson of knocking the phone out of his hand, but not once said that the officer hit him. James was “belligerent” and “obnoxious” and got too close to the officer, Richardson said.
Wilson testified that during his entire career as an officer he’s never had anyone respond in such a hostile way to a question or a warning. Wilson said he just wanted to make sure that James was permitted to use the spot.
“He immediately started cursing me,” Wilson said of James. “I don’t think it was warranted.”
But James said he was annoyed because Wilson had no right to determine whether he was approved for handicapped parking.
James, a criminal law student at Palm Beach State College, said he wanted justice because the officer “smacked me for doing nothing wrong.”
Onthe video, James and Wilson can be heard yelling at each other before and after the phone crashed to the ground.
“You cracked my damn phone!” James said.
Wilson told James he was “in the wrong” and then asked, “What makes you better than an old lady who can’t walk?”
James responded, “I’m a goddamn disabled veteran.”