Florida deputies mistake legally blind man’s cane for gun, arrest him | USA TODAY

A legally blind man, arrested by police after they mistook his cane for a gun, filed a complaint with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

RELATED: Qualified immunity: Why police are protected from civil lawsuits, trials

Police arrested a legally blind man in Florida after they mistook his cane for a weapon, prompting the sheriff's office to investigate and temporarily suspend the deputies involved for their behavior.

The man arrested, James Hodges, has filed a formal complaint against the Columbia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office, a spokesperson with the office told USA TODAY. The involved officers were Deputy Jayme Gohde and her supervisor Sgt. Randy Harrison, the spokesperson said.

Sheriff Mark Hunter said he was "troubled" by what he saw in the bodycam footage of the incident in a statement released by the sheriff's office on Monday. Hunter also released a video statement on Tuesday and said the deputy involved will be suspended without pay for two days. Her supervisor will be demoted immediately, suspended without pay for seven days, and won't be eligible for any "favorable action for two years," Hunter said.

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25 comments

  1. That’s it!!!! 7 days and 2 days it’s a shame how police think there superman with their guns and uniform, and yelling to inocent people

    1. POLICE have NO LAWFUL DUTY to PROTECT our “CHILDREN” or “HUMAN LIFE”: (Police are hired “Income” heroes for “State Profit”!)
      The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in (Castlerock vs Gonzales): Police heroically serve and protect the chartered “States for Profit” not the honorable taxpayers that pay their salaries!
      – Turtle-Truth: (Police Prostitute Against their own Citizens, for Profit!)

  2. I have a copy of the arrest report on my channel. The lady lies and lies and lies. It’s disappointing that they were both given slaps on the wrist instead of fired and criminally charged like seemingly most people want.

  3. USA Today, there is far more to this interaction, as well as the arrest report, the lies, the 26 hours in a cell for no crime that you have ignored.
    This report is substandard and doesn’t serve the public well.

  4. He can sue the police department for false arrest and possibly some kind of discrimination thing due to a disability.

  5. Can’t just walk down the street without the cops arresting you… Meanwhile the cops won’t go anywhere near the real criminals.

  6. They’re as aggressive as hell when it comes to a blind man and his cane, they think little of emptying their service revolver into an unarmed man’s back at point blank range or ambushing a teen doing nothing more than eating a burger in his car in the burger joints parking lot but an active shooter in an elementary school scares the living bejesus out of them.
    They are not always the good guy with a gun they’re portrayed to be.
    To serve and protect is turning into harass and bully, and the reckless use of lethal force on nonviolent citizens has got to stop.

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  8. The citizen that was molested should be the one to train them on articulating a Crime, after the lawsuit is paid out of course!

  9. I really hope there’s a lawsuit coming. And the police union should pay for it because they defend bad cops even when they are clearly wrong.

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