FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Three people were released from jail Monday night, a day after their arrests were captured on cellphone video in West Park.
The incident began as authorities were targeting people riding ATVs and dirt bikes on South Florida roadways as part of the annual and illegal "Wheels Up, Guns Down" ride outs.
According to a Broward Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, deputies were trying to arrest an ATV rider, Duewayne Dixon, 26, around 3 p.m. Sunday when two people interfered with the arrest.
The video shows a woman, identified as Francheska Turull, 37, charging toward a deputy as he and fellow deputies were trying to apprehend her husband, Jessie Hernandez, 39.
The video shows the deputy punching Turull, pushing her from behind while she was already on the ground and then grabbing her by the back of her neck and pushing her down as she tried to sit up.
"I didn't jump towards the officer. I jumped towards, you know, the situation. And I started yelling, ‘You're hurting him. You're hurting him.' And that moment is when the officer just started throwing punches at me," Turull said.
But according to an arrest report, the deputy defended his actions by reporting that Turull "bladed her body in a position to fight" and "then threw another closed-handed strike connecting with my face."
Turull and Hernandez were ultimately arrested on charges of resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement officer, officials said. Dixon, who is Turull's brother, said his family was just defending him.
"It could have been worse. You see what happens on the news nowadays. It could have been worse," Dixon said.