IN has obtained copies of the two complaints filed with the Department of Justice by the ACLU and Movement for Change against the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office while Ron McNesby was the sheriff. We can not be certain that the DOJ is acting on these complaints alone or if there have been others.
The first is dated July 2, 2003. Movement for Change and the ACLU ask the DOJ to investigate “a pattern of fatal police shootings by the Escambia County Florida Sheriff’s Office.” The letter cites the deaths of David Sean Lewandowski and Lathern Boughton.
Read DOJ Complaint 1
The second complaint is dated July 12, 2006. It is from the Citizens Law Enforcement Oversight Committee, which Leroy Boyd, president of Movement for Change, was the president. This complaint states “The State Attorney Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, County Commissioners, and the Judge’s consistent decisions have allowed the Sheriff’s Department to act outside the dictates of the Law.”
It goes on to claim that “Conditions with law enforcement have deteriorated in Escambia County, Florida. At the hand of sheriff deputies, we have an increase in the number of deaths of citizens in both the field and in the jail. Excessive force complaints have escalated. An alarming number of incidents involve people that are mentally ill.”
Read DOJ Complaint 2