Man files brutality complaint against NPPD
By DREW WINCHESTER
STAFF WRITER
NORTH PORT — City police were alerted in mid-December last year that Joe Gibson had threatened to kill himself and then wandered naked into the woods off Interstate 75. After a long search he eventually turned up, on his own, at his mother’s house on Napolean Road.
He had calmed down, but another bout of mania struck and his mother called police back to her home to have him taken into custody through the Baker Act so he could get help.
Instead of taking Gibson to a mental health facility for 72 hours of treatment, as outlined by the Baker Act, North Port police would eventually arrest Gibson and charge him with a felony count of resisting arrest, after they say he physically lashed out at them.
A report from Gibson’s arrest on Dec. 15 states that the 30-year-old had conducted a “physical barrage” on the three officers who responded to the scene, but Gibson’s mother Stephanie said that instead of helping her son, the officers physically assaulted him.
The report states that NPPD Officer Christopher Clark punched Gibson in the head three times, but Stephanie said they hit and Tasered her son so many times she couldn’t keep count of the blows.
Stephanie was stunned, she said, watching in horror while Gibson was pinned to the ground and his head was punched again and again.
“It was obvious he needed serious help, but there was no negotiation, no attempt to even talk to him,” she said.
Gibson has filed a written complaint with the NPPD where he admits that he was delusional at the time and was not cooperating with officers. But, he also writes that the officers had control of him once pinned to the ground so there was no need to strike him, but as they continued to do so he attempted to shield his head with his arms. Gibson also wrote that he was taken to jail without ever having been read his Miranda rights or being told he was charged with a crime.
“I believe the officers charged me to justify their violation of my civil rights and their excessive use of force,” Gibson wrote.
Assistant Police Chief Tony Sirianni said he could not comment on the written complaint and is currently having staff gather documents for his review. A full assessment may take several weeks, Sirianni wrote in an email.
Gibson’s Sarasota-based attorney, Jason Miller, said his client was bleeding profusely from his head and ear after the police attacked him, and photographic evidence shows the full extent of Gibson’s injuries.
Miller said an officer suffered scratches to his elbow, which prompted them to file the resisting arrest charge against Gibson, but added that the arrest report grossly overstates Gibson’s behavior as a threat to the officers.
Court records filed by Miller state that he has not been able to “fully form” his defense of Gibson, whose jury trial is set for July 7, because the NPPD has yet to provide all the documents requested by Miller and his law firm.
Miller, a former prosecutor, said he respects the job of law enforcement, but said the NPPD “picked a fight” with a mentally unstable man instead of helping him.
“There was no indication he swung on an officer or had any aggressive behavior toward them,” Miller said. “Their (the police) behavior was counterproductive. He needed help and didn’t get it.”
An incident report from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office shows that Gibson again had an episode and threatened suicide on Jan. 5 at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota.
A deputy caught up to Gibson a short time later on Clark Road and walked with him, calming him down, the report states. The deputy told Gibson they were going to Baker Act him, and Gibson said he was going to resist. The deputy continued speaking with Gibson and they agreed that if he wanted to resist, all he had to do was lay down on the ground while the deputy cuffed him, which he did. The report states that Gibson was transported to Coastal Behavioral Healthcare, a mental health facility, without incident.
The contrast between the two run-ins with law enforcement, and how they handled her mentally unstable son, are alarming for Stephanie. As she now waits for the criminal proceedings to play out, she said Gibson is more stable now, having received treatment.
But she said she’ll think twice about ever calling the NPPD again as the incident has left her trust in law enforcement shaken.
“The guy in blue, he’s supposed to be one of the good guys,” she said.