Fort Lauderdale officer seen on video shoving kneeling protester charged with battery
The Fort Lauderdale police officer who was captured on video shoving a kneeling woman to the ground during a protest has been charged with misdemeanor battery, the Broward State Attorney announced Tuesday.
Officer Steven Pohorence, 29, who was suspended from the department the day after the May 31 incident, would face up to a year in jail if he were convicted on the criminal charge.
Fort Lauderdale police said Tuesday Pohorence’s status changed to administrative leave without pay.
“At the conclusion of the process being led by the State Attorney’s Office, our Office of Internal Affairs will complete an administrative investigation to determine if any departmental policies were violated,” Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said in a statement. “I am honored to lead the men and women of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, who remain committed to the community we serve and ask for their continued trust and support.”
Shane Calvey, president of the Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police union representing Pohorence, said Tuesday, “He [Pohorence] is consulting his attorney and counsel. Right now, there is no comment.”
In a Facebook video shortly after the incident, Calvey did not say Pohorence’s name but did say the officer was the victim of “a rush to judgment.” He also criticized Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, who blasted Pohorence’s actions as “offensive” the day after the incident.
On May 31, Pohorence, a white officer, was seen on cellphone video walking through a crowd of protesters before shoving a woman in the head, pushing her to the ground. Hundreds of people had been out all day peacefully protesting police brutality following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A female officer, Krystle Smith, was seen on the video pulling Pohorence away.
Maglione announced the day after the incident that Pohorence had been suspended and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the incident.
At the time, Maglione said Pohorence was one of several Fort Lauderdale officers assisting another officer outside a downtown parking garage.
The incident soon led to chaos when police in riot gear began teargassing protesters. LaToya Ratlieff, a 34-year-old grant writer for nonprofits who lives in Delray Beach, was shot with a foam rubber bullet, piercing her head just above her right eye.
Kanye West featured the video of Pohorence shoving the woman in his new music video released Tuesday, called “Wash Us In The Blood.”
Pohorence has a history of using force with Fort Lauderdale police. Internal affairs have reviewed him 79 times in about three and a half years for his use of force. Pohorence has drawn his firearm more than once a month on average since he was hired in October 2016, according to personnel records.
He was also investigated and cleared for allegedly sexually assaulting a suspect with another officer in 2017. He received three commendations from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for stopping a naked woman from jumping off Interstate 95 and apprehending a man wanted for second-degree murder.
Broward State Attorney Mike Satz said in a news release Tuesday that “the decision to file a misdemeanor charge was made after reviewing the victim’s medical records to see if her injury fell under the legal requirements for a misdemeanor or felony charge.”
Pohorence’s initial court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
