February 9, 2024, was already a tragic day for Florida’s Dwon Ellis Jr., as it would have been his late son’s seventh birthday, who had drowned and died in 2017. As he went to visit the cemetery of his toddler son, he was stopped for running two stop signs.
Jacksonville sheriff’s officer J.A. Hendricks and T. Murphy were the cops involved in this, and the former initially claimed that he had smelled marijuana on Ellis Jr., then discovered that Ellis was driving with a suspended license. He asked Ellis to exit the car and handcuffed him.
The other officer, Murphy, then slapped Ellis Jr. three times, telling him to stop resisting, even though video evidence clearly shows he was not resisting. In his report, Hendricks mentioned that Ellis Jr. was pulled over because of violating two stop signs, and then he was accused of smelling weed, though Ellis Jr. claimed that he did not smoke marijuana.
Dwon Ellis Jr., a 31 was leaving his Childs grave site when he was pulled over for a traffic violation by Jacksonville sheriff’s officer T. Murphy slapped Ellis three times in the face while ordering him to “stop resisting….. Is this resisting !!!!!! Absolutely not@Stop… pic.twitter.com/olKiabZ48b
— We told you So (@terri4436166795) January 25, 2026
However, Hendricks’ report did not mention the fact that Murphy slapped Ellis Jr. three times. As reported by Atlanta Black Star, “The claim states it is common practice at the agency to omit details of physical abuse because it is encouraged by the top brass. But body camera video clearly shows Murphy slapping Ellis while accusing the Black man of pushing against him – when the video shows it was the cop pushing Ellis against his car.”
Last week, Ellis filed a federal lawsuit against Hendricks and Murphy, accusing them of violating his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights through excessive force, failure to intervene, and fabrication of evidence, as Atlanta Black Star reported.
The lawsuit also lists Jacksonville Sheriff Thomas Kevin Water, Duval County and the city of Jacksonville for encouraging and allowing officers to intimidate, lie, and abuse and to intimidate citizens from recording them in public.
Stephen B. Kelly Jr. and Wade M. Rolle of Jacksonville are the attorneys who filed the lawsuit and according to the same, “This case reflects not an isolated incident, but a culture, policy, and practice within JSO and the Consolidated City of Jacksonville that tolerates excessive force against non-resisting citizens, tolerates concealment of force through false or incomplete reporting, and tolerates interference with civilian recording to suppress transparency and accountability.”
As News4Jax reported, Ellis Jr.’s complaint led to Murphy being suspended for eight days. Ellis told the outlet, “I didn’t understand it, I just felt bad. I didn’t know how to feel at the time. I was angry. I was hurt.”
It should be noted here that the arrest report had not mentioned the details of the physical abuse but the recent lawsuit gets into these details. The lawsuit mentions, “Despite Plaintiff’s full compliance, Defendant Murphy approached and, while Plaintiff was restrained in handcuffs, slapped Plaintiff in the face three times, then threatened to slap Plaintiff again while cursing and using profanity at Plaintiff.”
View this post on Instagram
It further adds, “While Plaintiff remained restrained in handcuffs, Defendant Murphy forcefully gripped and squeezed the back of Plaintiff’s neck, and lifted Plaintiff upward by the handcuffs, forcing Plaintiff into an extremely uncomfortable, painful, and unnatural position.”
Talking about the same, attorney Kelly told News4Jax, “Slapping someone who you know is unarmed, being compliant and handcuffed, whether you have a badge or a gun or not, is wrong. He wasn’t slapped once, he wasn’t slapped twice, he was slapped three times while handcuffed. That’s not a police tactic. That’s humiliation, and that’s assault and battery.”
The incident highlights longstanding patterns of police violence and how easily law enforcement officers can evade accountability when victims do not speak up.
