‘I Fell Over’: Florida Man’s Bicycle Tips Over While He’s Listening to Police Commands. Cops Ignore His Hands Being Up And Immediately Punch, Kick and Tase Him Because He Took Too Long to Stop

Lakeland police in Florida claim they had to kick, beat and use a Taser on Marcus Adams — what they describe as “protective actions” — because he was not complying with their orders during an incident earlier this year.

But a recently released body camera video indicates they are lying.

And that’s not surprising, considering the police department has a long history of abusive behavior caught on camera.

The latest incident to surface took place on Feb. 7 after Adams was riding his bicycle on the campus of Florida Southern College and decided to stop and smoke a cigarette. A security guard ordered him to leave the area which he did.

He was already off the college campus and riding his bicycle down a residential street when several Lakeland police cars pulled up and ordered him to stop.

The video obtained by WTSP shows he slowed the bicycle down in an apparent attempt to listen to their commands but then fell sideways on a patch of grass – which was when the cops pounced on him, tasering him, kicking his legs, planting their knee on his back and striking him several times in the face with forearms.

“What am I being stopped for? Why am I being stopped because of a cigarette? On the campus?” Adams asks.

“No,” the officer responds, “Because you didn’t listen to my commands, that’s why.”

Adams, 36, was charged with trespassing on school grounds, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence, according to the arrest report.

But he had already left the campus, and there is no evidence on the video he assaulted a police officer or that he had refused their commands.

Even though he acknowledges the methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in his backpack, he does not believe that justifies the abusive actions of the police officers.

But Lakeland police are still clinging to the narrative that he deserved to be beaten because he did not follow their commands fast enough.

“Had Mr. Adams complied with the officers’ directives,” Lakeland police explained in a statement to WTSP, “this incident would not have resulted in protective actions taken by the officers.”

But what police describe as protective actions is being described as police abuse by attorney Bobby DiCello, whose law firm has sued several police agencies throughout the country.

“These empty promises of change, these empty promises of a community that can work together, are over,” DiCello told a group of citizens during a community meeting earlier this month, according to WTSP.

“I promise you that the work we will do together will change this. As we’ve changed in other cities that we’ve been in. New legislation. New oversight requirements for your police department. That’s on the way,” the attorney added.

But since that meeting, the latest video has surfaced, revealing an ugly pattern of abuse for the police department that oversees a city of 120,000 people about 35 miles east of Tampa.

“Well, immediately when I look at the video, I think of all of the other cases that we’ve been dealing with Lakeland and saying this is the same pattern,” Pastor Clayton Cowart with the Poor Minority Justice Association, told WTSP, who has been calling about the abuse for years.

“This is the same situation. Now, we’ve seen Black, we’ve seen white, it’s the culture.”

Previous Incident

Less than two months ago, during a Memorial Day Weekend pool party at an apartment complex, Lakeland police officers were caught on video beating and tasering a 16-year-old Black boy named Jahmal Hudson after they claimed he had assaulted them.

But the video recorded by a witness does not show that, and all charges were dismissed against him less than two weeks later, according to Fox 13.

Police claimed in their arrest report they were called to an apartment complex about people swimming in the community pool who did not live there. Once there, they ordered everybody to leave, but they claimed Hudson refused their commands and even placed his hand in front of the face of one of the cops, telling him, “I don’t have to talk to you.”

However, what the police neglected to say in their report is that one of the officers began mocking Hudson’s weight, telling him he should be next door in the gym instead of the pool.

Hudson, who weighs 374 pounds and is 6 feet tall, said he was offended by that remark and placed his hand in front of the officer’s face, telling him he didn’t want to hear any more from the officer because he was already leaving the pool. That was when the cop arrested him.

Below is how police described the incident in their report:

I gave Hudson several more lawful orders to exit the property or he would be arrested. Hudson continued to ignore my verbal commands and stuck his hand in my face, while stating “I don’t have to talk to you”. I decided at this time to take Hudson into custody for trespassing. I attempted to grab Hudson by his right arm, but he immediately tensed his body and attempted to pull away from my grasp. I informed Hudson he was under arrest and to stop resisting. I was able to maintain control of Hudson as I guided him toward a wall. Hudson began to flail his arms towards Officer Diaz #329 and I, almost striking us in our facial area several times. Hudson struck me in my facial area one time with his closed fist.

However, if any of that was true, it is very unlikely charges would have been dismissed less than two weeks later.

Third Incident

And yet another incident in which Lakeland police were caught on video beating and tasering a Black man, only to claim he had attacked them first, led to charges being dismissed against the man more than a year later because the arresting officers had credibility issues.

Lakeland police pulled over Antwan Glover in December 2022 for not wearing a seatbelt, then ordered him out of his car after the cops spotted marijuana in his car.

When he tried to explain he had a legal medical marijuana license, the cops accused him of possibly having a gun in his satchel, which led to a physical altercation. But the video only shows them punching and tasering him — and does not show Glover assaulting them as they had claimed.

But he was still charged with three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer and one count of resisting arrest with violence, felony charges that could have led to serious prison time for the 37-year-old man.

Prosecutors dismissed the case in May because they did not want to call the arresting officers on the witness stand for apparent credibility issues, including the fact that three of the four cops were on administrative leave because they were being investigated for an unrelated incident, according to WFLA.

Pastor Cowart of the Poor Minority Justice Association has been trying for years to hold the Lakeland Police Department accountable with little success. In January 2023, he organized a community meeting to demand justice and announced he had asked the federal Department of Justice to investigate the police department. However, more than a year later, the Justice Department showed little interest.

“We’ve filled out some paperwork with the Department of Justice. We want to see an investigation of some of the policies and practices of the Lakeland Police Department,” Cowart told WTSP.

“These sorts of investigations would allow them to come down and look at all of the components of the Lakeland Police Department and see if there is any racial bias or racism and things of that sort that’s going on internally,” Cowart added.

‘I Fell Over’: Florida Man’s Bicycle Tips Over While He’s Listening to Police Commands. Cops Ignore His Hands Being Up And Immediately Punch, Kick and Tase Him Because He Took Too Long to Stop