A white officer slapped man hurling racial slurs at a black officer, police say
A drunk white man wouldn’t keep his mouth shut. Two Florida police officers tried calming him down, but he wouldn’t budge, eventually escalating to racial slurs aimed at the officer who was African-American.
So the other officer slapped him.
That was Black History Month 2020 at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, Fla. Now, both officers are facing charges.
Albert Eckrode, 32, surrendered to police Thursday on charges of false report of commission of crime, felony battery and official misconduct. Monica Frederic, 27, turned herself in early Friday morning and was charged with false report of commission of crime. Both Fort Pierce police officers have since posted bond.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement began investigating the incident in February after receiving reports from fellow Fort Pierce officers.
Their inquiry, the findings of which the FDLE announced Friday, revealed that Eckrode did in fact engage in “unlawful use-of-force.”
“The individual in custody made verbal threats and used racial epithets against an officer,” the agency said in a media release, “and her fellow officer subsequently struck that person several times about the head and face, causing injury.”
Fort Pierce police provided more facts about the incident in a subsequent Facebook post. The victim, who police described as a 38-year-old white man, had been found unconscious outside of a business. He was immediately “combative” with Eckrode, a white man, and Frederic, a black woman, as they took him to the hospital where the verbal abuse only continued until the officer busted the man’s lip.
Eckrode “slapped and punched the un-handcuffed subject, causing a laceration to his upper lip that required sutures,” Fort Pierce police wrote on Facebook.
Both officers were immediately suspended. Eckrode resigned Friday while Frederic remained on unpaid leave pending the results of a pre-disciplinary hearing, police say.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 7:47 PM.
