WEAR TV 3 reports “What started out as a music concert… Ended with sheriff’s deputies setting off pepper gas in a crowd of a thousand people… Trying to get them under control.” Deputies arrested a total of six people that evening.
There appears to be two very different versions of what happened:
Beach Fight Arrest
It was a day at the beach, that got *way out of hand…
What started out as a music concert… Ended with sheriff’s deputies setting off pepper gas in a crowd of a thousand people… Trying to get them under control.
It happened this weekend near the parking lot at the end of Via Deluna Drive On Pensacola Beach.
But tonight… There are very different stories about exactly what happened.
Our team coverage includes video from two witnesses who saw the events unfold from different vantage points.
One says deputies handled things well… The other says they didn’t.
Channel 3’s James Jackson spoke with one man who claims it wasn’t the crowd that got out of control…
But the authorities.
It’s video… You will only see on 3.
For Cordarro Locke… It wasn’t just another day at the beach.
This home video, shot by a friend, shows deputies arresting Locke, after trying to move the crowd of people from the Fort Pickens Gate parking lot.
Cordarro Locke/Arrested at Beach
“He hopped off the ATV, threw me in cuffs you know. Slammed me. Grabbed me by my shirt and started choking me. I said you’re choking me! You’re choking me! He didn’t ease up none.”Joana Joyner/Locke’s Girlfriend
“He couldn’t breath. His mouth was open. His eyes were watering. It looked like he was seriously about to throw up.”Deputies tried to take Locke to a sheriff’s cruiser.
Then one deputy pushes him up against a fence.
As the crowd follows… Another deputy grabs Locke’s legs.. throws him over the fence, into the sand.
Other deputies come over to help take him to the cruiser.
Cordarro Locke/Arrested at Beach
“That wasn’t right. It shouldn’t have even came to that you know. Just because I don’t back up all the way out the road, that ain’t right.”Lt. Gary Montee/Escambia Sheriff’s Office
“The officers were in fear for their safety and the arrestees at the time.”Leutenant Gary Montee says deputies were following the proper procedures.
They say at one point… Locke tried to get away.
Lt. Gary Montee/Escambia Sheriff’s Office
“They had a crowd and were being pressed by the crowd. They also had bottles and rocks thrown at them that were available in the parking lot. The officers thing was to safely get the arrestee into the car.”Deputies charged Locke with resisting arrest without violence and narcotics posession.
He says after a day like Saturday… He doesn’t plan on going back to the beach for a long time.
Locke says he plans on filing a formal complaint with the sheriff’s office sometime this week.
Deputies arrested a total of six people that evening.