A Florida mother is making headlines after accusing a Jacksonville police officer of using excessive force during an arrest. The whole fiasco happened outside her daughter’s school. The incident occurred outside IDEA Charter School in Jacksonville’s Riverview neighborhood on the afternoon of October 7. There are records of the whole event captured on cellphone and police bodycam.
As reported by CBS News, “Erika McGriff, 39, had parked her car in an intersection and left it running while picking up her 9-year-old daughter in the rain, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
McGriff recounted the encounter at a news conference on Tuesday, a week after her arrest. “I asked the principal what was the proper procedure when picking up the walkers whenever it was raining,” she said. “He explained to me the procedures. I then went to pick up my daughter.”
Things did not go as planned from this point. Officer Randy Holton, who was stationed at the school, reportedly approached McGriff about her parked car. McGriff said that she tried to comply, while police accused her of resisting arrest, which led to further troubles.
Holton’s body-worn camera showed McGriff standing up and appearing to swing at the officer. Meanwhile, another bystander’s cellphone footage showed the mother and officer grappling, throwing punches, and falling to the ground.
The video also showed Holton putting McGriff in a headlock as she screamed that she couldn’t breathe. “All I was trying to do was get my daughter out of the school, from out of school, without getting wet, drenched in the rain,” McGriff said later. “That’s all, and none of this. Everything that happened — that was just like uncalled for and it’s not fair.”
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McGriff’s attorney, nationally known civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, slammed the officer’s actions. Standing beside McGriff during the press conference, Crump accused Holton of using brutal methods that were unjustified for the situation.
“The type of force used on Erika McGriff — the chokeholds, the hair grabbing, being punched with closed fists in the face, having a knee put on her neck — should be reserved for armed and dangerous criminals who are a threat to the public and our safety,” Crump said, according to local CBS affiliate WJAX. “But not for mothers who are doing their part to go pick up their daughter from school so she won’t get rained on.”
JSO presented a different version of events. Officials said McGriff bit the officer and violently resisted arrest, forcing him to use “reasonable force” to subdue her. She now faces multiple charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, and operating a vehicle with a revoked license.
Crump has vowed to challenge the charges in court, calling the arrest video “disturbing” and “heartbreaking.” He also called for transparency from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
McGriff has been emotionally shaken and said, “everything that happened was uncalled for. I was just trying to pick up my baby in the rain.”
Netizens’ reaction to the viral footage has been mixed. Some have supported the mother while some spoke in favor of the police, saying that the force was necessary given how things happened.
The mother’s legal team said they are preparing to file complaints and are demanding the officer be disciplined. “This was not policing,” Crump said. “This was punishment — and no mother should ever have to experience that.”
