OCALA, Fla. — The state paid out millions to former Florida prison inmateCheryl Weimar whoThis was left paralyzedAfter her neck was broken guards. But, here are the things: aAfter a three-year investigation, the prosecutors announced the names of those officers will notBe charged.
Weimar’s life changed forever in August 2019, when she was left paralyzedBy prison guardsAfter refusing clean a toilet.
“I went down to my knees,”Weimar said it to us in aInterview February 25, 2022
According to her civil lawsuit, which resulted in aWeimar was present at the ground and settled for $4.65million “they brutally beat her with blows to her head, neck, and back,”And she “was elbowed and kneed in the back of her neck by at least one of her attackers, causing her to suffer a broken neck.”
“They dragged me and my neck was just breaking. I could just hear the bones popping. And I said Lord please don’t let me die this way. Please,”Weimar stated this in our initial interview.
RELATED: Officers charged with inmateBeat which leftFrau paralyzed notFast three years later, it was finally charged
“There is insufficient evidence”
After extensive investigations by the Florida Department of Corrections, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement the Marion County State Attorney made the decision. notTo pursue charges. Interviews were conducted with 117 people, including security personnel and medical staff.
A memo that was published late Friday stated that “There is insufficient evidence to prove the injuries were intentional or the result of culpable negligence.”
Florida statutes define culpable negligence as “showing reckless disregard for human life.”
The report said, “It should be noted that some of the witnesses initially refused to be interviewed and litigation by this office was required to ultimately obtain their testimony.”
WFTS
Cheryl Weimar enjoys aDay in the Park
“I cried”
Adam Walser from ABC Action News contacted Weimar via phone Monday.
“I cried. Laying in my bed I said God why not?” Weimar said.
According to the report, Weimar was mentioned by the prosecutors. “started kicking the two officers”When and how officers were initiated aThey claimed that she was attempting to take her down to get to the ground. “her momentum carried her forward pushing her shoulders over her head.”
The incident occurred notCaptured on camera
“They were going to blame me for getting hurt. What kind of nonsense is that?” Weimar said.
Prison reform activist Debra Bennett-Austin, President of Change Comes Now, said she was disappointed with the state’s decision notTo chargeThe officers involved.
“I’m sad for Cheryl Weimar and it’s disheartening. I’m not surprised,”She spoke. “This woman walked into prison. She was rolled out. Now she has to close her eyes every night knowing she can’t even brush her own hair.”
Group organized demonstrations
Bennett-Austin has led efforts to bring visibility to Weimar’s case. She organized protests at court hearings. formerLt. Keith Turner whoThe lawsuit named Turner as one of two officers. Turner was indicted in 2020 in a separate case that involved sex crimes against children.
Bennett-Austin believes the case involving Weimar didn’t move forward because it involved the accounts of inmates, versus those of corrections officers.
According to the report: “Some of them claimed to have seen the takedown, some to have seen the completion of the escort to the medical building and some to have seen both. The only point of complete agreement in all these statements is that Ms. Weimar seemed to be ‘unconscious’ while being taken from the point of the takedown to the medical building.”
Bennett-Austin believes that the corrections officers were more credible than the inmates because of the fact that Bennett-Austin was interviewed by investigators whoThey were held in prison. She feels that the State Attorney’s Office should’ve taken the case to trial.
“This should have been decided in a court of law with a jury of people not affected by anyone, they don’t know anyone. They’re just going into a courtroom to hear the facts. That’s how it should have been decided,” Bennett-Austin said.
ABC Action News was contacted a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office and requested an on-camera interview, but he declined. Turner is still being tried on unrelated charges.
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