It began as a simple traffic infraction and ended with a shattered window and the arrest of a UCF student.
When the student claimed the the officer from the university’s police department was brutal and used excessive force, we began investigating the questions surrounding the incident and people involved.
We spoke to our legal analyst, criminal defense lawyer Lisa Figueroa, to get her advice on a major question: Who was right and who was wrong?
Figueroa says that the student should have complied with the officer in the first place and then tried to fight the ticket later on it court.
“I would say right plus rude equals wrong,” Figueroa said. “She needed to be compliant.”
We also asked UCF for more information about officer Isaacs and received several commendations as well as overall satisfactory performance appraisals. We did also discover, however, that one complaint had been filed with the department against Isaacs, which claimed he was unprofessional, falsely accused someone of a crime and was disrespectful.
According to UCF, that claim was found to be unsubstantiated.
So what happened on that day during that traffic stop?
On September 4, Victoria King was pulled over by UCF police officer Timothy Isaacs for a routine brake light traffic stop. King refused to open her window all the way and Officer Isaacs put his hands in the window “in an attempt to open the door.” That’s when Isaccs claims King began to roll the window on his arm.
“I began to feel pressure on my forearm due to the window compressing it against the frame of the window,” Isaacs said.
That’s when the officer broke the window and proceeded to arrest King.
But Figueroa also told us, however, that she believes Isaacs lied in his report that he put his hands in the window to try and open the door.
“Clearly he was lying about him trying to reach in, he said something about trying to reach in…you can’t see that, Figueroa said.
After the incident, King filed a brutality and excessive force complaint against Isaacs.
For more on the incident, click here.
Click NEXT PAGE to view the complaint and other reports we received from UCF.
