Tampa Cop Fired For Dragging Woman Across Parking Garage To Jail After She Told Him To

TAMPA — The Tampa Police Department fired one of its officers Tuesday after he was recorded dragging a handcuffed woman across the ground toward a Hillsborough County jail booking room.

An investigation found that Officer Gregory Damon violated several department policies during the Nov. 17 incident.

It happened after he and other officers were called early that morning to the Tampa Family Health Centers at 4620 N 22nd St. in the Belmont Heights area. People at the medical office reported that a woman was sleeping outside the building and refusing their requests to leave the property.

When Damon arrived with her at the Orient Road Jail, the woman refused to step out of the back of his patrol SUV, police said.

Body-worn camera video that police released Tuesday captured his interaction with the woman.

“I’m going to drag you out of this car,” he told her.

“I want you to drag me,” she said.

The video shows the officer taking her by the arm, pulling her out of the vehicle, then moving her across a long concrete floor toward a sign reading “search your arrestee” over the doorway to the central booking room. The woman speaks defiantly, berating the officer throughout.

As he drags her, the officer stops and tells the woman to stand up. She remains on the ground.

Damon continued to drag her toward the doorway. He pressed a call button, summoning two Hillsborough County jail deputies to come outside to help bring the woman into the room.

Tampa police did not name the woman in a news release about the incident. But jail booking records indicate that she is 46 years old. Her listed address is a Tampa facility that provides services to homeless people. She was booked in jail at 10:19 a.m. that day on a trespassing charge. Booking notes indicate that she was released a few days later to a mental health facility. The criminal case against her continues to be prosecuted.