By Steve Pomper
Okaloosa County Courthouse, Crestview, Florida Photo: (Hoteltwo, CC Wikimedia 4.0)
When I investigate stories about cops being wrongly prosecuted, normally, I furrow my brow, scratch my head, and ask, where’s the crime? After reading and watching a video about the ordeal of three Florida cops, Ofc. Brandon Hardaway, Ofc. William Johns, and Cpl. Evan Reynolds, I’m not scratching my head. I’m banging it against a wall.
Perhaps the worst aspects of this case are not yet in the public consciousness. Florida State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden’s dubious actions apparently caused two of the officers to move out of state. Even worse, her actions seem like the reason the third officer and his wife lost the foster children they’d planned to adopt. More on that later.
In the original 2022 NPA story about the incident that occurred in October 2021 in Crestview, Florida, even without having seen the video, which wasn’t public yet, I couldn’t find any crime the officers had committed.
Now, having seen the videos, I still couldn’t find any crimes except those the suspect, 40-year-old Calvin Wilks Jr., apparently committed against the officers.
Did the officers strike him with a baton, punch, or kick him? No.
Did the officers restrict his breathing at any time? No.
Did the officers use the Taser in other than drive stun mode, which, by Florida law, is a non-lethal, pain compliance method? No.
Did the suspect recently ingest several drugs, which likely could have caused an OD? Yes.
A toxicology screening found the following in Wilks’ system: “Cocaine, Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, and Eutylone (Bath Salts) [yes, that’s a thing], and Ecstasy.”
So, how did the State Attorney conclude that officers committed manslaughter rather than the suspect died of an overdose? And why is the State Attorney’s Office still refusing to explain what precisely the cops did to cause the suspect’s death? (Is it because it doesn’t exist?).
According to the Florida Police Benevolent Association (FPBA), Wilks’ criminal history includes multiple counts of illegal narcotics use and sales (Fentanyl and cocaine), illegal weapon or ammo possession, tampering with evidence, felony driving while license suspended/revoked. And he also had pending charges for fleeing/eluding the police.
First, a nutshell incident recap. Then, we’ll try to find out why this follow-up is even necessary. This bogus case will likely be dismissed eventually, but not without the officers and their families continuing to suffer needlessly.
Officers were dispatched to a 911 call from a woman who reported hearing a male and female voice in a disturbance in the apartment above hers. She said she could hear thumping, yelling, and a voice saying, “Please, stop.”
On arrival, Wilks refused to allow officers inside to check for victims, which the cops must do, ignored the officers’ lawful orders to comply, lied that the woman in question was in a car parked out front, and assaulted an officer by repeatedly slamming the door on his foot.
Only after a monumental amount of patience exhibited by the officers did they push into the apartment to search for any possible victims. The suspect actively resisted and appeared under the influence of an intoxicant.
The suspect continued to resist, including getting one hand free with a handcuff fastened to his wrist, which is very dangerous to officers. This resistance forced an officer to drive stun Wilks with his Taser, deploying five applications.
At one point, while lying on the floor being tased, the suspect says, “He’s puttin’ a needle in me,” “They’re trying to put a pistol in my hand,” and “Dude, this feels good. For real.” Then he chuckles before yelling again. Finally, handcuffed, officers position the suspect on his side, in a recovery position, to ensure his breathing isn’t obstructed.
An officer (possibly the sergeant on the scene) can be heard saying, “Make sure you watch that stomach rise and fall.” Even though Wilks was quiet, you could see him moving his head. And, if you’re wondering why the cops didn’t do CPR then, people hate it when you do CPR while they are still breathing.
Soon after fire department medics arrive, Wilks stops breathing. Okaloosa County Fire Department Paramedic Mariah Kelly is on scene, and the moment Wilks stops breathing, she drops to the floor and immediately begins CPR. Wilks is later transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead 28 hours later.
Several medical professionals, doctors, and nurses who personally attended to the suspect concluded the cause of death was a drug overdose. Despite this consensus, in June of 2022, State Attorney Madden indicted the three officers for manslaughter some seven or eight months after the incident.
In my original article, I couldn’t tell you unequivocally that the officers used no unnecessary force. I didn’t see the incident unfold in context, and the video wasn’t available for review. But, based on what I read, it was easy to give the officers the benefit of the doubt.
Now that I’ve seen the video evidence, I have zero doubt that the officers acted responsibly and professionally. I saw no officer actions that could have resulted in a fatal injury.
A scenario that instructors used to train the officers 14 months before the call was nearly identical to this 911 call. Based on that training, officers did not enter the apartment on first contact. They waited for the suspect, who had closed and locked the door after saying he’d come back outside to speak with officers after he put some clothes on.
An officer later said Wilks didn’t open the door for another 5 to 10 minutes. He also noted Wilks’ sobriety appeared to have changed during the interim before he opens the door again, in a noticeably altered state. Wilks tells officers it’s not his apartment.
He tells officers the female who lives in the apartment is in a gray car parked out front. He says her name is Amber. Officers check the three gray vehicles, which were unoccupied. They then check the surrounding area, locating no woman.
Rather than using too much force during the incident, the officers appeared to accept more risk upon themselves than necessary while attempting to “de-escalate the incident—even as Wilks slammed the door on Ofc. Hardaway’s foot.
That’s not a criticism of the officers, and it doesn’t surprise me. Today, the emphasis on de-escalation often seems to trump officer safety in favor of suspect safety—in my humble opinion.
The following investigation analysis comes from the “Florida Police Benevolent Association’s (FPBA) video presentation, “Defending Florida’s Finest: State of Florida vs. Reynolds, et al.”, which includes BWC video recordings.
In a preface on YouTube, the FPBA wrote, “In 2021, three Crestview Police Officers were indicted for manslaughter in the First Judicial Circuit of Florida. Still today, nobody from the State Attorney’s Office will explain how these officers harmed the subject. These officers have been waiting for years to have their names cleared when ALL of the attending doctors and medical professionals said the subject died from a drug overdose. Watch for yourself. Decide for yourself.”
Between each text entry noting the depositions of the medical professionals whom the State Attorney failed to call to testify before the Grand jury, the word “Incompetence” appears with a “?” following a pause.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
Or, rather than incompetence, is the State Attorney’s Office acting maliciously? Maybe? Likely? Or did it get caught up in early bad decisions, and folks are now too embarrassed to apologize, correct their errors, and drop the charges? If so, this would amount to malice, right?
Is the FPBA being generous by even alluding to giving the State Attorney’s Office an incompetence benefit of the doubt? Review the presentation, and you be the judge.
Consider the following from the FPBA’s presentation. Use the approximate video timestamp for reference:
(46:30) “Steven S. Donchey, MD, concluded that Mr. Wilks died from cardiac arrest as a result of drug overdose.” The State Attorney did not call Dr. Donchey to testify for the Grand jury. Why not?
“At his deposition, [ER Doc] Dr. [Joshua] Latham was asked if Mr. Wilks died of a drug overdose, and he answered ‘Yes, sir.’” They did not call Dr. Latham to provide grand jury testimony. Why not?
ER Nurse Elizabeth Early testified that Wilks had no visible injuries when he arrived at the ER. When an Assistant State Attorney challenged Early’s conclusions that the suspect died of a drug overdose, Nurse Early responded, “So for, as far as me, like, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s a duck.” Like the doctors, this ER nurse was not called for Grand jury testimony either. Why not?
Nurse Eryca Hoskins testified she knew of no evidence contradicting Dr. Donchey’s conclusion that Wilks died of an OD. This nurse also wasn’t called to testify. Why not?
Paramedic Kelly, who can be seen in the video performing CPR on the suspect, was asked about her reaction when she was informed the State Attorney had indicted the officers for manslaughter. “[S]he testified that she was shocked and surprised.” The State Attorney’s Office did not call Kelly to testify before the grand jury. She was the paramedic who initially provided life-saving aid to Wilks at the scene. Why not?
Another nurse, with over 30 years of experience, who also cared for Wilks, testified during her deposition that “she concluded that he died from a drug overdose.” And, yes, you guessed it. She wasn’t called to testify before the Grand jury either. Why not?
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
The agent in charge of the investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Special Agent Supervisor Edward Vincent, testified that the officers could have arrested Wilks for “Resisting With Violence or Felony Battery as a result of repeatedly slamming the door on Officer Hardaway’s foot.” So, if you’re looking for a crime, there you go.
Additionally, “SA Vincent testified that the officers had a DUTY, based upon the 911 call ‘to make sure nobody is dying in that apartment, held hostage, seriously injured.” He was not called for grand jury testimony either. Why?
SA Vincent’s testimony also described Cpl. Reynolds’ lawful and necessary grasping of the back of the suspect’s neck to control movement as a “touch,” saying he hesitated even to categorize it as a use of force.
His hand is not restricting airflow, as evidenced by the suspect’s yelling and later mumbling incoherently during the two minutes and thirty seconds of active resistance. Cpl. Reynolds said he didn’t want Wilks’ to hit his head on a shelf only inches away.
Officer Hardaway goes downstairs to contact the 911 caller. She confirms what she told 911 exactly as recorded. The officer tells her he was concerned about a woman possibly injured by the suspect. The witness said, “That’s what I was thinking too ’cause there was lot of running and bumping and jumping and stomping. There’s got to be somebody else in there.”
Oddly, the State Attorney called the neighbor to testify before the grand jury. Of all the witnesses they didn’t call, why call her? According to recorded audio and video evidence, she provided legitimacy for the initial response and the officers’ concern for a possible assault (or worse) victim.
It seems the neighbor (or someone) changed her story despite her recorded reports to 911 and Officer Hardaway at the scene that she heard someone yelling “Stop, please stop.” Why would the State Attorney’s Office call someone to testify whose contradictions could be so easily verified?”
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
The FPBA also asks if the State Attorney permitted “the neighbor to provide false testimony to the Grand Jury…?” How could anyone not wonder because what she said to 911 and to the officer at the scene vastly differs from her deposition and “presumably at the Grand Jury….”
This witness was crucial for providing the officers with the reason for their mandatory entry into the apartment upstairs and every action that followed.
Perhaps the most critical aspect of the investigation is Dr. Ami Murphy O.D.’s inexplicable autopsy cause of death results. She performed the autopsy, which was one of some 3,000 she has reportedly done in her career (two-thirds of which were overdose deaths), and, incidentally, the report “did not document any substantial physical injuries.”
Dr. Murphy listed the cause of death as “Cardiac dysrhythmia following physical exertion, prone restraint, and deployment of electroshock neuromuscular incapacitation (NMI) device. The death was ruled a “homicide,” and the drugs he ingested described as “contributory.” She lists the “injuries occurred” by “Prone (physical) and electrical restraint by law enforcement; self-administration of drugs.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
However, in her first listed cause of death, she blames “physical exertion” while resisting the police, which normally healthy people unaffected by narcotics don’t die from. Besides, wasn’t resisting the officers Wilks’ choice?
She also blamed “prone restraint,” which seems to apply to autistic children and would need some serious explaining that this was lethal force in this context. Isn’t “prone restraint” just a bit ambiguous regarding police actions?
Where are the specifics on what the cops supposedly did wrong? And the officers did not use an electrical device in NMI mode. So, what killed Wilks? Well, “self-administration of drugs” is a clue, right? That’s the only thing we know that happened for sure.
“Dr. Murphy admitted at her deposition that Mr. Wilks’ autopsy was the first and only occasion where she listed prone restraint or deployment of a neuromuscular incapacitation device as a cause of death.”
And that last cause she lists is a real head-scratcher. “Deployment of electroshock neuromuscular incapacitation device,” because it never happened. That clearly seems enough not only to drop the charges but also to have never brought charges in the first place.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
As noted earlier, citing information from the manufacturer AXON, when used in drive stun mode, as was done here, neuromuscular incapacitation cannot occur. Why did Dr. Murphy not know this? And by noting his taking drugs was “contributory” to his death, she seems to have gotten it backward.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
FPBA stated: “Dr. Murphy’s conclusion that Mr. Wilks died as a result of the deployment of a Neuromuscular Incapacitation Device is PATENTLY FALSE.”
The thing that gets me is the officers would have been justified in using the Taser by deploying the probes to control the combative suspect. And while shooting the Taser probes would have also been justified in using this level of force—THEY DIDN’T DO THAT.
Bottomline, according to the FPBA presentation, Dr. Murphy contradicted herself in her testimony and said the Taser does not cause neuromuscular incapacitation in drive stun mode. Yet, there it is in the cause of death responsible for three cops being charged with manslaughter—homicide.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
And there’s more. Every cop who’s been Taser certified knows “the data from Taser uses are automatically downloaded by AXON for review after each deployment.”
AXON’s Brian Chiles said, “Because cartridges were not deployed, this activation would not have had potential to cause NMI,” which he concurred for all five uses.
The FPBA asks, “Why did the Grand jury return an indictment when all of the reliable testimony and evidence mandates a conclusion that Mr. Wilks died of a drug overdose?”
The FPBA asks who else the State Attorney called to testify before the grand jury beside “Dr. Murphy with her flawed scientific opinions?”
FPBA: “The State Attorney refuses to identify any specific act that the officers took which caused Mr. Wilks’ death or which was reasonably likely to cause serious bodily injury.” Why?
The State objected to a defense request for particulars regarding how they are charging the officers with the crime. How are their lawyers supposed to defend them properly?
The state did not call one first responder to testify for the grand jury. Why?
If these cops committed any crimes, someone conjured them out of some nefarious prosecutorial mist. There’s no evidence of lethal force, but there’s plenty of evidence that substances the suspect ingested caused his death.
Having served as an FTO for six years, training many student officers, and now having seen the videos, not one officer did anything that would lead a reasonable person to conclude any officer committed a crime here. Objectively, their actions do not meet the legal elements necessary for probable cause to charge manslaughter. Read the law.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
I want to leave you with this thought: While you will likely commiserate with the officers and extend sympathy to their families, considerable collateral damage often goes unreported in cases like this and are unknown to the public when officers are treated so cruelly.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
In this case, while the State Attorney’s Office has emotionally battered these fine officers and their families, I don’t want to say they have ruined the officers’ lives (although I certainly understand if they feel that way). But I have too much confidence in the type of optimistic people who become cops and marry cops to believe they will not eventually overcome even this level of evil.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
According to a source close to the case, the prosecution has engaged in much mischief that will be coming to light soon. Issues such as why, after being cleared by Crestview authorities, the local State Attorney’s office, and the lead investigator at FDLE, and with the support of the county sheriff, did the State Attorney bring charges?
There are also allegations such as ignoring discrepancies in testimony, allowing false testimony, and a prosecution official who allegedly said he wanted his “George Floyd before he retires.”
Still, the State Attorney’s actions may have genuinely ruined some other lives—the lives of hopeful children. I also had the pleasure of speaking with Emmie Reynolds, Cpl. Reynolds’ wife, and I asked if there was anything specific she wanted the public to know about her family’s nightmare. She told me a heart-wrenching story that has crushed her family.
I’ll let Emmie tell you in her own words this little-known aspect of the harm the State Attorney’s Office has done to her family, which she gave me permission to share.
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)
“So, the only other thing is, and it’s got no bearing on the case legally, is that because of this, we lost our foster children that we planned to adopt. After infertility issues and adoption loss we finally had our own family after 16 years. They took that. – Emmie” .
Emmie told me the day after the indictment, the state went to the children’s daycare, snatched the kids, and the Reynolds haven’t seen them since and don’t know where they are. Emmie told me the children called them “Daddy and Mommy.” They had a birthday party scheduled for one of the children for two weeks after the date the State wound up taking the children away.
Just imagine how those kids felt.
I still maintain the state will eventually drop the case, and the officers will be exonerated and vindicated. But I wonder how the folks at the State Attorney’s Office live with the destruction they’ve wrought on these officers and their families.
How do they reconcile the professional opportunities and life’s treasures they’ve stolen from the officers, including the loss of those children their actions have snatched from the Reynolds family?
I also wonder if any crimes allegedly committed here were committed by anyone in the State Attorney’s Office. How could I not wonder that?
Image (Screenshot from FPBA Presentation: Defending Florida’s Finest, 2024)