FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Broward Sheriff's Office deputy has been reassigned to desk duty after a video given to the media by a witness shows Christopher Johnson dragging a mentally ill inmate through the hallways of the Broward County courthouse by her ankles.
"It concerns me enough where I directed internal affairs to look into the case," Sheriff Scott Israel told Local 10 News.
Israel said Johnson will not have any contact with inmates pending the outcome of the investigation.
"My only concern is that the deputy might have had other options," Israel said. "He could've gone through a different course and performed it a different way, and we'll see where it goes with the internal affairs case."
The incident happened Monday during a status hearing for Dasyl Rios, 28, who a judge found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial on two misdemeanor charges.
According to witnesses, Rios apparently wanted a few minutes to speak with her mother who was in the courtroom, but the deputy decided against that idea.
When Rios resisted leaving the courtroom, Johnson was seen physically pulling Rios out and dragging her down the hallway by her ankles.
Witnesses, including several attorneys, said the veteran deputy's actions were inhumane.
"I have been doing this for 12 years and I've never seen anything more degrading," public defender Lynn Desanti said. "I was shocked. I was speechless. I finally said, 'What are you doing? Stop it!' And he wasn't listening. He was going to drag her back to jail."
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