You got anything going on? You got anything? No, I'm I'm sitting here sleeping half dead, right? And these they said I'm I have a concealed weapon. I wasn't reaching for anything. Officers responded to a man camping on the side of a highway, claiming he was living off-rid. Under Mororrow County law, off-grid living is legal, but not on county property. Instead of allowing him to move, officers escalated the situation, ignoring his claims of injury and pushing for immediate compliance. The man who had a spinal cord injury tried to explain his situation, but deputies quickly became forceful, disregarding his medical needs. When he hesitated to leave his tent, they accused him of reaching for a weapon and forcefully removed him, intensifying the confrontation. Sheriff's office, how you doing, bud? Is this where you're staying at? Hi. Temporary. Temporary. Yes. What happened to your neck? You need an ambulance or something? Um, I have a fresh spinal cord, so I think we bark them too much. Damn, that sounds bad. How old are your puppies? They're 21 days old. Okay. Hey, Cruz. Hi. Hi, mama. Hi, Fussy. It's all right, Fuss. It's okay. Good girl. I'm glad you gave him the food. I brought her. Sorry, her. We're thinking what's best is we hold them for protection. No, it's okay. I can keep the puppies. They're in a they're in a good environment. It's it's still, you understand, it's it's my decision where I want to do. Oh, so here's the thing, Cruz. We understand that. But here's the thing. You're illegally camping here, right? Not illegally camping nowhere cuz in Maro County, it's called off-rid living. And that's 100% legal. Okay? Not on county property. You can do off-rid living out there. Okay? Hey, then I'm going to remove this stuff and then I'm going to go out there. Why don't you come out here so we can talk to you? No, I don't want to talk. I already know what is going on. And hey, I don't know what uh uh but uh come out here. Come out here right now. What? The machete? Yeah, I'm talking about the machete. Get out of here right now. That's a That's not That's not That's a concealed weapon. There's nothing wrong with that. Get out of the car now before I move you out. I'm shooting. I'm going to count to three and then you're going to I'm going to work with you. Hi, mama. I don't I don't ask twice. Come on, man. I ask once and then I then I tell you then I make you. You all got a kennel or something to start grabbing these puppies? I'm getting my shoes for Stop making up stuff. God damn. Jesus Christ. No, we we've been nice for a while. I know being nice nothing. I ain't do nothing. I'm grabbing my shoes right there. Taking shoes. Jesus Christ. I know you're not taking my puppy. It's my decision. No, we're taking No, you're not. Look, look, look, look, look, look, look. Stop it, man. Stop it. Do not grab me again. Don't touch me. Don't touch me. Do not grab me again. Don't touch me. You understand me? I didn't do nothing illegal. You understand me? I do not do nothing illegal. You are not going to touch me. I have I have a neck brace. That's illegal. You understand that you touch me? I didn't do nothing illegal. Do not come at me like that again. I didn't do nothing. [ __ ] chill. Do not. I just lost my hand. Take your dogs. I didn't do nothing to you. You did. We're taking your dogs. We're not doing it. What are you doing? Let me control it. Let me control it. Let me control it. Let me Let me control it. Let me control it. Let go of her arm. Let me control her. Your other arm. Let me control it. Let me control her. I didn't do nothing wrong. What do you do? You think you lock me up? Then let me get my dog. Let me get my dog. Illegal, man. You doing you laughing. Stop laughing. You're more laughing. Stop grabbing it. No. Call me the lieutenant now. What does it do? I'm a machete. I didn't want to hand him the other hand first. Your hand gone. No, I'm not. I want to touch him. I want to touch her. And I'm talking to the sun putting hands on me. I didn't do nothing. I didn't even reach for reach for again. It's going to hurt where do you have one in your car? Do you have one on you? No. That's a lieutenant or a sergeant. You want to spin them around? Get him in cuffs. Hobbles on the side door. I'm talking to the surgeon. You're not talking to anybody right now. That's the surgeon. Doesn't matter. Man, I'm not even doing nothing. I need you to push it to my wrist. All right, I'm up. Tie the bubbles. Over now. This is unnecessary. It is. And it's over. So, we're done. You're okay. Okay. That's it. All right. Can I get up now? In a minute. All right. Get one aside. You good? The situation spiraled when officers attempted to take his puppies. Under Florida Statute Section 828.12, it is illegal to subject animals to unnecessary suffering. The officers ignored his protests, deciding that removing the puppies was necessary despite no evidence of neglect. When the mother dog reacted aggressively to protect her owner, biting one of the deputies, officers grew more aggressive. The man, already injured, resisted their rough treatment, leading to a chaotic struggle where officers accused him of assault. Disregarding his attempts to deescalate. Instead of prioritizing safety, they handled him with excessive force, worsening his injuries. You got anything? You got anything? No, I'm I'm sitting here sleeping half dead, right? And these days I'm I have a concealed weapon. I wasn't reaching for anything. Where's a weapon in here? Anything? It's a machete that I purchased. Anything else? No, I had no guns, no drugs, nothing. I have a service dog. Okay. And you can review the cameras. She said I'm illegally 10. She said, "I think it's best if we take your dog." I said, "No, I would move somewhere else." Stand him up. We're going to walk him out here. Can you get my neck breaks? My neck breaks. My neck breaks. Where's it at? We'll get it. Don't worry. We got a paramedic coming to look at you. All right. Let's walk up here. All right. Have a seat right here. Sit on your sides. I'm going to have a paramedic come take a look at you. All right. All right. So, I'm chilling, right? I'm going to lay down. And they said, "I think it's best if we take your your dogs." I said, "No, I have a settlement. I can go I can go somewhere else." She said, "You illegally camping on cumber come property." I said, "Our living is 100% legal." And she saw that had a machete. She said, "Stop reaching." I wasn't reaching for anything. I grabbed my shoes and then a guy just assault me out of the ordinary. I didn't do nothing wrong. I said you on my neck. You're on my neck. I have a I have a C5 fracture. I have a settlement. That disorderly conduct, man. I'm going to walk him down to the shade. There we go. Grab my neck brace. Grab my neck. Let me sergeant will be up here. I'm going to get you situated first and then I'll go down here and get it. Okay. I need my puppies. I need my dogs. You understand? You want to go to the shade first? Yes. All right. Let's walk to the shade. I need my puppies cuz I didn't do nothing wrong. Okay. I'm not here. I just got here. there. All right. Can you breathe? No, it's just my neck. I have a C5 fracture. Okay. Okay. Okay. Just relax. We'll rescue is coming. We got this tent right back here. And that's why I kept coming this way cuz I knew it was going to go sideways. I saw the machet. All right. Way to handle it and not go the other way with it. I come outside cuz I knew, you know, the dog was biting me everywhere. Dog went nuts. The dog bit you break skin anywhere? I don't know. I'm not worried about it at all. Go sit in your car. I can't. I don't have my keys. Okay. Go down there and look. Let's get you in the car cooled off and then uh we'll go from there. They came and picked it up cuz they thought it was best for them to go in the shelter. Let them I see the dog, but I want to make sure your dog's taken care of. That's all we care about. Make sure What's your name? My name is Cito. That's your real name. Yeah, that's my government name. Government name. Yeah, but where's your ID at? It's in there. What? What? Uh, state from Maryland. Maryland. Yes, sir. This guy, come on. Stop reaching. I'm grabbing my shoes then. Um, I'm going to go ahead and take you down. I'm not reaching for nothing. Let's let's let's just calm down. Do you mind if I go get your ID? Yes. Where's it at? It's in the the the the hub part. Like the the the pouch. The pouch. Yeah. All right. When I walk in your tent, it's going to be the left, the right. That thing's going to be to your left. Okay. Check all of them. Do I have permission to go grab it? Yes. Okay. No problem. I'm going to go grab that ID. All right. All right. Thank you. They taser me. I'm trying to get off of my neck. I have a fracture. I haven't healed yet. I have a fracture. He's on my neck. Tell me to shut the up. If I don't do nothing. So, I'm I'm sitting down cuz I'm hot. I'm suffering from strokes. So, the officers in animal control, they said, "Oh, I think it's best if um take a dog." So, the lady looked inside my tent. She saw a machete. She said, "Stand down. Stand down." that that first and foremost I'm a chef. I'm an executive chef. I went to school for chef and I'm a registered fighter underneath Tai Chi. They're not here. They're not here for that. They're here for you medical. I have a C5 fracture on my spinal cord. This guy put pressure on my spine. I can die any minute. Right. When did that happen? This happened on March the 24th when I was hit by a car on my moped. This recent March? Yes. This recent March. Did you have neck pain? Yes. All my spinal cords or anything? My neck breaks in there. He took it off me. You wear that all the time? Yes, all the time. Put it on you now. All right. Thank you. We'll take your vitals and everything, but it looks like you're moving your neck fine, right? No, it hurts. It hurts. Yeah, that hurts bad. We can take you to the hospital and get checked out or No, I want I want to see what they going to do first cuz I need to have my dog and my puppies, right? Your puppies are fine. They're not going to come with you if you either way you're going to go to the if you're going to the hospital. You wear this all the time, right? Yes. I need a new one cuz it's uh tearing apart on me. Okay. See, you can see where he broke it apart. You have any? No. Y'all can review the camera. Sge. I'm telling you, I I never reach for anything. I'm not here. I'm just the third officer that got here, buddy. All right. All right. That's all I am. The sergeant went over there to talk to her. So, cuz there's nothing. There's no concealed guns in there. There's no pepper spray. There's nothing in there. I'm telling them, get off my neck. Get off my neck. No. Shut up. I'm like, dog, I have a neck injury. They couldn't It's like they were scared that the dog was going to bite them. The dog was in our space biting us. And I keep yelling at her. You need to grab the dog and pull her. They're like, "She doesn't want to go." I'm like, "You really don't care right now. Yank the dog. We're getting bit." And we're fighting with this guy. Yeah. The guy was on my spinal cord. I have a C5. I'm telling you, get off. It's paralyzable. You got to get off my neck. I'm working with you. He didn't care. I have a settlement. I have a personal injury lawyer. Well, everything's on camera. So, thank you. Let me uh let me just take some pictures real quick. All right. Please don't stand my cell phone. I can put on Facebook and uh stuff. All right. So, this is where everything was. It's right here in the corner. Yeah. He sat up and he reached and the machete was back there. So, I jumped in there and grabbed the machete and threw it out. She's going to take you by the hospital, get checked out. No, I'm good. I just want to go. I'm just running. We We have We have to just be safe. No, no, no. We have We have to. It's just a safety thing. Especially because your neck is listening. Listen. Even though it doesn't show up on their instruments. The hostel has better instruments. They can do a better check. All right. Stand up. We just want to make sure you're fine. All right. We're going to walk over this way. Right here. Second car. Just take a seat. Relax. Okay. I'm going to take the Hobble. Hobble's going to come off so he can get in here. He hasn't been a problem. You don't want this back on you, right? You're not going to be a problem. No. Hell no. All right. I'm going to drop it down to your feet. Wiggle your legs a little bit. Now you can step out of it. All right. All right. Thanks, buddy. You're welcome. What's your first name again? Crisito. Chrisito. Yeah. Go by Chris or anything? Cruz. Cruz. All right. Cruz. All right, buddy. I'm going to close this. Watch your arm. Okay. Despite his injuries, officers transported him to jail after medical clearance. Under Florida statute section 776.05, law enforcement use of force must be necessary and proportional. Yet the officers piled multiple charges against him, including resisting without violence, resisting with violence, and aggravated assault on an officer. His service dog and puppies were taken from him, raising concerns about whether the officers had truly acted in the best interest of the animals. What started as a simple response to a camping violation turned into an unnecessary display of force, showing just how far some officers are willing to go to assert control. Like and subscribe for more police cam stories. Watch the next recommended video.