MIAMI (WSVN) – A Louisiana couple is taking legal action against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office after a tough takedown in the Florida Keys.
The family says their South Florida vacation last year turned into a nightmare when they were pulled over for driving too slowly while towing their boat as they entered Bahia Honda State Park.
“I saw you going 15 miles an hour,” said the deputy on body camera video.
“Yes,” said Nolan Bates. “I work here.”
“OK, fantastic. Good for you,” said the deputy. “I need your driver’s license.”
“For what?” asked Nolan.
And that’s when things escalate. Body camera footage captures the deputy pulling the door handle and grabbing the lock knob.
“Get out of the car. Get out of the car! Unlock the car and get out now! Get out of the car now!” said the deputy.
“Calm down. I am coming out,” said Nolan.
“You want to try to grab me?” said the deputy as he began grabbing Nolan’s leg.
Speaking to 7News on Thursday, the couple detailed the frantic moments with the deputy.
“And he just started ripping into the car, trying to find the unlock…” said Nolan.
“Saying, ‘All right, get out of the car. Get out of the car,'” explained Kate, Nolan’s wife.
With Kate, their two young children and service dog inside the car, Nolan found himself in a bad spot.
“Like what is happening? And my kids are crying,” Kate explained to 7News.
As Nolan tried to comply with the officer, he noticed he had forgotten to put his car in park. Body camera footage shows Nolan telling the officer to wait a moment as he jumps into the truck to stop it from moving forward.
“Oh, my truck! My truck!” yelled Nolan as he got into his truck to put it in park.
“I saw the truck and my two little kids start driving away as I didn’t have it in park,” Nolan told 7News.
But the deputy wasn’t having it. As Nolan jumped into his truck to park, the deputy increased his voice and pulled out his Taser.
“Put it into park now,” said the deputy.
“It is in park,” said Nolan as he noticed the Taser and raised his hands.
“[He was] pointing a taser at me. The kids thought it was a gun,” Nolan told 7News.
“Put your hands behind your back now! Stop pulling away from me,” said a deputy as he pointed a Taser at the man’s back. “You’re going to get tased.”
Nolan is a firefighter who retired after a motorcycle crash left him with a brain injury. His wife says she was scared of what would happen to him if the Taser was deployed.
“He has a lot of hardware in him, and I don’t know what a Taser would do,” said Kate. “Praying that this guy is not going to actually pull the trigger on the Taser.”
The incident ended with Nolan’s arrest. He was charged with committing felony battery on a police officer.
The family is now being represented by Attorney Michael Pizzi.
“They charge him with committing felony battery on a police officer, which is a lie,” said Pizzi as he watched the body camera footage. “That’s a stun gun in front of his kids.”
When asked whether Nolan grabbed or squeezed the deputy’s hand as stated in the arrest report, Nolan said, “Not at all.”
Since the rough arrest, state charges were dropped against Nolan due to his medical history.
But the Bates, along with Pizzi, say they will see the sheriff’s department in court.
7News reached out to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office for comment. They said they were not commenting on pending litigation.
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