Two Florida deputies have been suspended after they arrested a visually-impaired man while he was walking with his cane, which they mistook for a firearm, officials said.
The incident occurred on Oct. 31 in Lake City, Florida, when 61-year-old James Hodges, who is legally blind, was arrested for resisting an officer without violence, according to an arrest report and body camera footage from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, obtained by NBC News.
Columbia County Sheriff Mark Hunter issued an apology for the incident on Tuesday after video of the arrest, made by deputies as Jayme Gohde and her supervisor, Sgt. Randy Harrison, went viral.
"As sheriff, I take full responsibility for this event and want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr. Hodges for the actions of my deputies," Hunter said. "I do not feel these deputies' actions were guided by ill intent, but rather by frustration and failure to rely on their training. Nevertheless, this conduct is unacceptable."
An investigation into the deputies' conduct was launched after the incident. They were found to have violated several policies, resulting in Harris facing a seven-day suspension without pay and Gohde facing a two-day suspension without pay. On top of that, Harrison is not eligible for any "favorable action" for two years.
According to Hunter, the pair will also be required to take remedial training in civil rights.
The encounter has left Hodges with a bitter taste in his mouth, though, during an interview with WTLV, he shared his appreciation for the two being disciplined.
He said it "Makes my chest swell up, not in a proud way, but in a very appreciative way."
The encounter began when Gohde stopped Hodges after seeing him walk through a crosswalk even though the traffic light had not indicated to walk, according to the report NBC obtained.
The report goes on to say that Hodges was carrying what appeared to be a "silver pistol with a white grip in his back right pocket."
However, bodycam footage showed that while deputies first had reasonable suspicion to stop Hodges, when they thought he was carrying a weapon, he showed them that it was his walking aid, removing doubt it was a weapon.
After showing Ghode what was in his pocket, Hodges asks her, "What's the problem? Are you a tyrant?" To which she responds she is and asks him to identify himself, according to the video.
When he states that he does not have to, being that they do not have reasonable suspicion to stop him lawfully, Ghode asks, "Do you want me to put you in handcuffs right now?"
Hodges then asks for her suspicion, to which she says it looks like he has a gun in his pocket, and he fully removes the walking cane and shows it to her. They then continue to debate until she asks him to identify himself again, and Hodges asks for a supervisor.
At this point in the video, Harrison walks up to Hodges, says the cane could look like a weapon, and asks him to identify himself.
Again Hodges says he does not have to identify himself unless the officers have "reasonable articulated suspicion that I have committed a crime, am committing a crime or about to do a crime."
Hodges was then placed in handcuffs, and Ghode asked him if it was that hard to identify himself, to which he asked for her name and badge number. Harrison responds, "You know what, put him in jail for resisting."
In his statement, Hunter shared that his deputies will work to regain the trust of the public and his community.
"I want to reassure you that as your sheriff, we do make mistakes," Hunter said. "But we take corrective action to fix them. This is how we get better."
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