Florida cop fired and arrested after being turned in by other officers

Well this is rather encouraging and took place in Florida, no less. A 21 year veteran police officer has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after pulling and pointing a gun on an unarmed black man.

From tampabay.com

TAMPA — A Hillsborough sheriff’s sergeant was fired and arrested for pointing his weapon at the head of an unarmed Black man who was already in custody, Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Friday.

Sgt. Janak Amin had served 21 years with the agency. He faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

“Sgt. Amin’s actions, the violation of public trust and the dishonoring of his oath to serve and protect, is despicable,” the sheriff said at a Friday news conference outside the agency’s Ybor City headquarters.

The incident that cost the sergeant his job took place Thursday at the intersection of N Nebraska Avenue and E Annie Street.

A jail inmate who was “inadvertently” taken to DACCO Behavioral Health Center left the facility, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies went looking for him. They found him hiding and detained the man, the sheriff said.

The man was placed in a “prone” position, but refused to give his name to deputies. “He was not armed and made no aggressive actions towards our deputies,” Chronister said.

The sheriff said Amin, who was kneeling next to the detained man, became angry, pulled out his weapon and threatened his life “simply because he refused to identify himself.” Chronister said Amin made comments to the man saying he would shoot him in the head.

Other deputies intervened, Chronister said, and defused the situation. They also used an alternative method to identify the man without his cooperation.

But Chronister emphasized what he called the “most egregious” nature of the incident: Amin pointed his gun just inches away from the head of an unarmed man, the sheriff said.

“I don’t think this incident is indicative of who Sgt. Amin is, but, regardless, it takes only one incidence to violate the oath that you take, the public’s trust and break the law,” Chronister said. “There is absolutely no reason, no excuse and no justification for why this sergeant acted the way he did.”

Chronister said he could not release the name of the victim due to the sheriff’s interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment that is designed to protect crime victims but also deprives the public of information that has historically been provided in Florida.

But Chronister said the man later told deputies that he was scared for his life.

The incident was reported to command staff by the deputies who are at the scene. An investigation was launched and Amin was taken off duty on Thursday.

Then on Friday, the sheriff said Amin was fired and arrested. Amin was booked into the Hillsborough County jail, then freed after posting $2,000 bail.

Apparently he was reported by other officers. This is the very encouraging part to which the country must see, much, much more of.

From Nydaily:

“There is no question, this incident is detestable and not representative of who we are as a law enforcement agency,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.

“The almost 4,000 men and women of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office are so very proud to serve and protect the community. When a member of our team breaks the oath they have taken and the law, it erodes the sacred trust we have with the community that we have worked so. hard to earn. As your Sheriff, I will always fight for and protect victims and peruse lawbreakers, even if it’s one of our own. I want to also commend the deputies who came forward to immediately came forward to report this most egregious act. While I know it was difficult to do so, this is the type of transparency we must have as a law enforcement agency, whose mission is to serve, protect and defend the community while preserving the rights and dignity of all.”

Apparently the same officer fired was involved in a shooting in 2007.

From baynews9.com:

Sgt. Janak Amin, a 21-year-year veteran with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, was involved in a deadly deputy involved shooting in July 2007 in Riverview.

Amin and another deputy responded to the home where a former Sarasota firefighter was uncooperative and waving a gun in his front yard.

Investigators found the shooting justified after Amin and the other deputy demanded William Best drop the gun numerous times before they fired.

The Sheriff’s Office released the 145-page Internal Affairs report as part of a document dump after Amin’s arrest on Friday.

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a press conference Amin responded to an area where an inmate had escaped.

The sheriff’s office says that inmate was mistakenly taken to a mental facility, but he later walked out and was reported missing.

Several deputies on the scene reported that Amin held a gun to the man’s head and threatened to shoot if he did not give him identification.

Other deputies on the scene de-escalated the situation and later reported it to command staff.

Amin was fired and arrested shortly after the incident.

“What I think bothered them the most was how egregious it was,” Chronister said.  ”What I think bothered them the most was how egregious it was. You had a person on the ground in a prone position and you have a sergeant with his firearm pointed toward the individuals head, inches away from his head …”

If Amin is found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, he could face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison under Florida’s 10-20-Life law.