On Friday, May 20, Escambia County deputies responded to a call of a man who was acting erratically near the Brent Raiders Football Field. After brief resistance from the man, later identified as Frank Lugo, deputies handcuffed him and put him in the back of a police cruiser.
Lugo’s health deteriorated, and EMS was called. When they arrived, Lugo was pronounced dead.
Yesterday, Sheriff Chip Simmons held a press conference and told reporters that he had terminated one of the deputies after his review of the body cam video.
Sheriff Simmons was my guest on WCOA this morning. He talked about his decision and his expectations for the officers under his command.
“I think it’s important, whether you’re the chief of police or whether you’re chief deputy, assistant county administrator, chief corrections officer or now the sheriff, to let people know that these are your expectations,” said the sheriff.
“We have a set of standards that, anything less than that is unacceptable. And you continue to do that. You reinforce that day in and day out. But I also think that when that intersects with transparency, you have to get out and say, ‘Hey, what I saw, I did not like.'”
He added, “And I hope that the citizens of Escambia County understand that. If we see something, that we’re going to tell people, ‘This is exactly what we know at this time.'”
