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a story that has nothing to do with FMPD by ww



Deputy accused of using excessive force, caught on camera
Deputy Hill has been accused before, Sheriff's Office stands by Deputy

By Mike Mason
CREATED Aug. 16, 2012


LEE COUNTY, Fla. – Tonight, a Fort Myers family accusing two Lee County deputies of using excessive force, one even pulling out his weapon in front of several small children and it's all caught on camera. Four in your Corner investigator Mike Mason finding one of these officers has faced similar accusations before.

In a Fox 4 investigation earlier this year, seven customers of a gay bar in Fort Myers claimed Deputy Scott Hill charged them with his gun drawn for no reason and he even tasered a handicapped man. Tonight he's accused of using excessive force again.

Ada Matias breaks down each time she watches this video showing a Lee County Deputy pointing his weapon at her family and arresting her teenage daughter.

It happened last year, on July 31st when Matias was having a party at her home in East Fort Myers. Cameras were rolling when this good time took a horrible turn, ending with the arrest of Ada, her husband and teenage daughter.

A Sheriff's Office report shows Deputy Scott Hill was on patrol when he noticed four Hispanic males drinking beer next to Ada's home under the "No Loitering" sign on the side of this convenience store.

Reports show Hill then arrested the four men for having open containers, one of them was Ada's husband. That's when Ada walked outside to find out why he was being arrested.

According to police reports, the Deputy says there were: "30-35 people in the yard.....Ada Matias confronted me and started yelling in Spanish....it was obvious that Matias was trying to incite a riot among the gathering people and refusing my lawful commands to leave the area."

Hill then called for backup and Deputy Kenneth Sherman arrived. That's when things really heated up. Video shows Ada's 10 year old daughter going to the cruiser to see her father. Deputy Sherman then grabs her arm and pulls her away. When the girl runs back again deputy hill pulls out a weapon in front of small children.

Deputy Hill then approaches Ada's 14-year old daughter with a pair of handcuffs, as he grabs her wrists the girl takes a swing at Deputy Hill and that's when Deputy Sherman takes her to the ground and she's arrested. Two small children try to approach their sister but are pushed away. In Deputy Hill's report he writes, the 14-year old girl, "Raised her fists and struck him in the arm and chest multiple times before she was restrained by Deputy Sherman."

But that's not what the video shows. You can clearly see the girl taking one swing at Deputy Hill and she misses. We also asked the girl about this directly.

Mike Mason: "The Deputy says that you swung at him multiple times is that true?
Girl: "No it's not."

The teen was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. Miami attorney John De Leon is fighting to get those charges dismissed.

John De Leon: "It just seems completely way out of bounds to point the gun at children who, while they're investigating a misdemeanor drinking in public. This is what leads to people tragically getting shot."

We asked the Lee County Sheriff's Office about what happened. They say Deputy Hill was pointing his taser, which looks similar to a hand gun. They also say Deputy Hill had every right to draw his weapon because he felt Ada Matias was inciting a riot and his life was in danger.

But we found this is not the first time Deputy Scott Hill has been accused of using excessive force. On January 7th customers at a Fort Myers gay bar called The Office Pub say Hill and another Deputy charged them in the bar's parking lot with guns drawn.

Warren Miller: “They were charging at us with their guns drawn and flashlights on us and said get on your knees and we didn't move to get on our knees right away so then they said (***expletive***) get on your knees or we will shoot you!"

At the time, Deputy Hill was serving a warrant next door at Babe's Gentlemen's Club when he claims hearing gunshots coming from the area of The Office Pub. But customers say the sound wasn't from a gun, it was actually a car door being slammed. Reports show Deputies ordered all seven customers to the ground but Robert Ortiz is handicapped and couldn't comply so Deputy Hill shot him with a taser. Ortiz remembers what he told Hill.

Robert Ortiz: "I can't put my arms up and I can't talk cause I'm like this and there's nothing there (Ortiz points to his tracheotomy). He said get on your knees now" and I said, “I can't” and he fires his taser at me."

The Lee County Sheriff's Office investigated the bar customer's complaints and determined there was no evidence to prove the officers did anything wrong. In this most recent case, the Sheriff's Office says no one filed a complaint against the two Deputies so the Sheriff's Office did not investigate. Ada Matias says charges against her were dropped and now she wants the same for her daughter.

Ada Matias: "I don't know what happened to this day but me only pray for my God."

Attorney John De Leon is set to take depositions in this case next week and says if charges against the teen are not dropped he says he will go to trial.

I'm pro leo all the way, however the police report does not match with this video and even one lie or stretch of the truth casts a dark cloud on the whole deal. If 3 little Guatemalan juveniles warranted this use of force then something is seriously wrong with there ability to communicate and deescalate an emotional situation. And all over a bs open container ? Why weren't the other 2 kids arrested as well, i saw contact ?

http://www.fox4now.com/news/local/166488316.html

Most times in incidents like these, the people are the ones making situation worse. There is right and wrong way to go about addressing any issues. Ignoring law enforcement commands and doing whatever you please while law enforcement is dealing with a stressful situation (arrests) is not going to end well. At the end of the day they made their own bed.

Have u been there? Do u know what to say when the neighborhood is sick of this shit and the Deputy is expected to put a bandaid on the chaos. There is no magic wand to make people grow a brain. We see a few make the many miserable and when action is taken, a few ass clowns cry for the criminals and ignore what the bad guys are doing to their children and everyone else involved. Do u think we enjoy walking into something ur not going to back us up on and have to prove in court. We are in the middle of what is right and what the states attorney's will file on. Maybe if people grew a spine instead of pointing fingers, ur neighborhoods would start moving in the right directionn

Why don't you cover this older story for us about our very own local investigative reporter:


Reporter accused of 'doctor shopping'
By BRADY DENNIS
Published April 15, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA - WFTS-Ch. 28 investigative reporter Mike Mason was arrested Wednesday on charges that he visited numerous doctors in order to obtain multiple prescriptions for opiate-based painkillers.

The practice, known as "doctor shopping," is a third-degree felony in Florida, punishable by as much as five years in prison.

Mason, 31, faces eight counts of obtaining drugs from a physician by withholding information.

Investigators say he made at least 34 visits to 14 different doctors between November 2002 and November 2003. They say he obtained prescriptions for at least 2,400 painkiller pills, such as hydrocodone and OxyContin.

"He'd visit two or three or four doctors in a month," said Rick Morera, spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducted the investigation. "One (doctor) didn't know what the other was prescribing."

Wednesday, Mason's attorney suggested that Tampa police officials started an investigation of him as a way of retaliating against Mason's critical reporting.

In December, Mason was sued by three Tampa Police Department officers after he aired a story that suggested favoritism within the TPD promotion process. The officers claimed the story invaded their privacy and portrayed them in a false light.

"The Tampa Police Department's contempt for Mr. Mason is publicly known," Mason's attorney Steve Romine, who works with lawyer Barry Cohen's firm, said Wednesday. "There are aspects about this case that smack of retaliation. There was nothing Mike Mason did that would have caused anyone to question his medical treatment to prompt such an investigation."

Because of the strained relations between Mason and TPD, the department asked the FDLE to investigate the case, Morera said.

"I think TPD requested we get involved in the investigation because they wanted an outside, independent, unbiased third party to look at it," he said. "If anything, they did everything in their power (to be fair)."

In the station's own report about Mason's arrest Wednesday, WFTS-Ch. 28 reporter Laura McElroy asked TPD spokesman Capt. Bob Guidara whether the investigation was an act of revenge. Could a reporter investigate wrongdoing within the police department, she asked, without fear of retribution?

"We didn't target Mike Mason," Guidara said. "The information was brought to us."

Romine said Mason has been diagnosed with a serious back problem that has afflicted him in recent years. It was exacerbated by weightlifting and by being struck by a car while riding a bicycle, he said.

"Mr. Mason has a legitimate medical condition which requires him to take these prescription medications," Romine said. "There's no evidence he was selling prescription drugs, and there's no evidence he was abusing them or operating in an impaired state. He's not an addict."

Station officials declined Wednesday to talk about the details of the case or the status of Mason's employment.

Wednesday's arrest was not Mason's first encounter with the law. His license once was suspended for six months after he was found guilty in October 1994 of driving under the influence in Miami-Dade County, where he graduated from college and started his television career.

Mason turned himself in to the jail on Orient Road early Wednesday afternoon. He later was released after posting $16,000 bail.

- Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.

They should have called that story NO USE OF FORCE! Anyone of those notice the green square on the guns barrel? The booking sheet date was a year old! Read that booking sheet there was 30-40 people at the "party". They forgot to mention that! Fox 4 news is a joke. Mason you pill head. Everyone those where that house it located.

Now it makes sense. This is the same reporter who "allegedly" had the affair information about John and Robin but didn't want to touch it because pill popping bipolar Lee asked him not to

Why don't you cover this older story for us about our very own local investigative reporter:


Reporter accused of 'doctor shopping'
By BRADY DENNIS
Published April 15, 2004

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA - WFTS-Ch. 28 investigative reporter Mike Mason was arrested Wednesday on charges that he visited numerous doctors in order to obtain multiple prescriptions for opiate-based painkillers.

The practice, known as "doctor shopping," is a third-degree felony in Florida, punishable by as much as five years in prison.

Mason, 31, faces eight counts of obtaining drugs from a physician by withholding information.

Investigators say he made at least 34 visits to 14 different doctors between November 2002 and November 2003. They say he obtained prescriptions for at least 2,400 painkiller pills, such as hydrocodone and OxyContin.

"He'd visit two or three or four doctors in a month," said Rick Morera, spokesman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which conducted the investigation. "One (doctor) didn't know what the other was prescribing."

Wednesday, Mason's attorney suggested that Tampa police officials started an investigation of him as a way of retaliating against Mason's critical reporting.

In December, Mason was sued by three Tampa Police Department officers after he aired a story that suggested favoritism within the TPD promotion process. The officers claimed the story invaded their privacy and portrayed them in a false light.

"The Tampa Police Department's contempt for Mr. Mason is publicly known," Mason's attorney Steve Romine, who works with lawyer Barry Cohen's firm, said Wednesday. "There are aspects about this case that smack of retaliation. There was nothing Mike Mason did that would have caused anyone to question his medical treatment to prompt such an investigation."

Because of the strained relations between Mason and TPD, the department asked the FDLE to investigate the case, Morera said.

"I think TPD requested we get involved in the investigation because they wanted an outside, independent, unbiased third party to look at it," he said. "If anything, they did everything in their power (to be fair)."

In the station's own report about Mason's arrest Wednesday, WFTS-Ch. 28 reporter Laura McElroy asked TPD spokesman Capt. Bob Guidara whether the investigation was an act of revenge. Could a reporter investigate wrongdoing within the police department, she asked, without fear of retribution?

"We didn't target Mike Mason," Guidara said. "The information was brought to us."

Romine said Mason has been diagnosed with a serious back problem that has afflicted him in recent years. It was exacerbated by weightlifting and by being struck by a car while riding a bicycle, he said.

"Mr. Mason has a legitimate medical condition which requires him to take these prescription medications," Romine said. "There's no evidence he was selling prescription drugs, and there's no evidence he was abusing them or operating in an impaired state. He's not an addict."

Station officials declined Wednesday to talk about the details of the case or the status of Mason's employment.

Wednesday's arrest was not Mason's first encounter with the law. His license once was suspended for six months after he was found guilty in October 1994 of driving under the influence in Miami-Dade County, where he graduated from college and started his television career.

Mason turned himself in to the jail on Orient Road early Wednesday afternoon. He later was released after posting $16,000 bail.

- Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.

Mike Mason, is a pissed off journalist, that has been arrested and is out to get cops because he hates us. He is a CANCER, that will do stories only on possible negative endings, and has NEVER once done a story on a single Positive Police scenario. At least, Chief Baker has the balls to not even speak to this HOMO, whom hates cops and what we stand -for....unfortunately, he gets misinformation for those that have worked at different agencies that have a AX to grind, and he publishes it and demoralizes an entire department and city, with his HATE and negative stories....Go Doctor shopping around here and see what happens you HOMO. No wonder you work for the last place news channel around here, NBC-2, wouldn't even let him interview for a position when they found out about his arrest(s), no wonder he ends up in the shit station where he's at...told 2 me by an NBC-2, insider...go pop pills Mike the HOMO Mason....

Pill head, criminal, cop hater, taking directions from Lee Bushong? Surprise! Crazies always seem to flock together.

Oh wait, let the DS comments begin. Like there is anything we all haven't heard a million times.

Just wondeing what ever came of the Doctor shopping case against Mike Mason. I know it has been 9 yrs but he is now in our community. Was he convicted? Was he using the drugs or selling them? As a reporter should hebe allowed in our schools with a drug history.

KARMA at it's best.....Karma at its best! :devil:

Just wondeing what ever came of the Doctor shopping case against Mike Mason. I know it has been 9 yrs but he is now in our community. Was he convicted? Was he using the drugs or selling them? As a reporter should hebe allowed in our schools with a drug history.
You stupid douche Mason is long gone
promoted out to a larger market.

How about the deputy who left the old guy in the car with no air?...