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A Fort Walton Beach man who accused an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy of injuring him while using excessive force was arrested for filing a false statement. The deputy’s body worn camera told the true story.
25-year old Matthew Yahve Peters of Mooney Road was arrested on charges of loitering and prowling and resisting arrest without violence on October 29th, 2015. On November 2nd, he filed a formal complaint against the arresting deputy at the OCSO Headquarters in Shalimar.
Deputies initially made contact with Peters after he called 9-1-1 asking for assistance. He said he was beside the Publix on Eglin Parkway but they were unable to find him. He was ultimately located on the ground near a business at 105 Hughes Avenue. Peters was extremely intoxicated and had apparent injuries.
Deputies called for a taxi to take Peters home and while waiting, developed evidence he had entered a fenced area of a closed business nearby. When they tried to detain him to question why he would have been in that area, Peters pulled away and was taken to the ground in a smooth manner in a manicured grassy area. However in his formal complaint – Peters alleged he had been injured by a deputy when placed in shackles and then again when tackled to concrete – causing damage to his teeth, upper left, and arm. His complaint also alleged the deputy stuck his sandal in the business’s fence.
While investigating the complaint, the OCSO Office of Professional Standards reviewed the 9-1-1 tape, computer aided dispatch notes, all the documentation, and the bodycam video. Peters and the deputies who had responded to the call were also interviewed.
Video from the deputy’s bodycam showed injuries to Peters’ face and elbow had taken place before deputies arrived on scene. It also showed Peters pulling away from them when they tried to detain him, and being taken to the ground in a smooth manner on a grassy area. In addition, the video showed Peters’ sandal being discovered stuck on a cross beam being used as a step to scale a fence into a business on Hughes Avenue.
Prior to signing his statement against the deputy, Peters had been informed it is a crime to provide a false written statement, a second degree misdemeanor.
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