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A Florida police officer was charged with battery Tuesday after he was captured on video pushing a woman kneeling during a protest in Fort Lauderdale in late May following the death of George Floyd.
Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Steven Pohorence, 29, is accused of “intentionally touching or striking” a 19-year-old woman, “pushing her to the ground” on May 31, said Mike Satz, state attorney for Florida's Seventeenth Judicial Circuit covering Broward County.
The charge, a first-degree misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of one year behind bars, comes following an investigation carried out by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that involved reviewing the victims’ medical records.
Videos of the incident remain under review.
"Everyone needs to understand that there’s more going on in any police-citizen encounter than is depicted in a snippet of a video,” Pohorence’s attorney, Michael Dutko, told South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Let’s get all the facts and review them and see where we stand.”
The woman seen in the video circulated online being pushed to the ground was later identified by the Sun-Sentinel as Jada Servance. Her attorney claims Servance, 19, suffered neck and shoulder injuries as a result of the incident.
In the video, Pohorence is seen approaching protesters in Fort Lauderdale on May 31, yelling that they get back. Protesters surround the officer and kneel on the ground with their hands up. Pohorence then pushes a kneeling woman to the ground, WTVJ reported.
The video has been viewed more than 17.8 million times.
Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said in a press conference following the protest that Pohorence, who has been with the department for four years, was suspended pending further investigation. The chief commended another officer, Krystle Smith, who is black, and who was seen in the video later pushing Pohorence away from the kneeling woman.
“She did what you are supposed to do: When you see either adrenaline or emotion or some kind of interaction going south ... that is our job to do, is intervene,” Maglione said of Smith.
He also elaborated about the entire scope of the protest scene, detailing how officers “were getting fireworks thrown at us, we were getting rocks thrown at us, we were getting all types of projectiles, several officers got hit square in the face with bricks and thank God they had their helmets with their shields on."
Hundreds gathered at Huzienga Park in Fort Lauderdale at around 3 p.m to march through the city that day. Tensions later escalated between protesters and law enforcement. Officers were seen firing tear gas into the crowd after initial demonstrations ended.
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Protesters were also seen throwing rocks and bottles at officers, according to WTVJ. People also smashed the windows of several businesses on Las Olas Boulevard.
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