Woman held at police gunpoint was forced out of Florida home naked — twice, suit says
A woman filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a Florida sheriff, saying she was unclothed when deputies forced their way into her home and ordered her outside at gunpoint while executing an arrest warrant.
It wasn’t the first time that this happened, according to her complaint filed May 27 in the Northern District of Florida.
An earlier “humiliating” incident occurred the morning of Aug. 29, 2019, when LaTanya Griffin awoke to Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies using a battering ram to enter her two-story home, the complaint says.
While “fully naked,” Griffin walked out of her second-floor bedroom and saw deputies at the bottom of her stairs with guns pointed at her, according to the complaint, which says they were there to execute a search warrant.
The deputies ordered Griffin outside and into her front yard where they detained her in front of her children, the complaint says.
The second incident
About nine months later, “with striking similarity to the August 29th seizure, (Griffin) was again literally ordered out of her residence while fully naked” on May 28, 2020, according to the complaint.
That morning, Okaloosa County sheriff’s deputies entered Griffin’s front door with a battering ram, similar to the prior incident, to execute an arrest warrant for someone else, the complaint says.
She was forced outside her home at gunpoint, unclothed, and her “hands were zip tied or handcuffed behind her back while she was detained,” according to the complaint, which says her children witnessed the event like the first time.
The deputies “eventually placed a tank-top, tee shirt over (Griffin’s) head providing partial covering, but not concealment, of her genitalia,” the complaint says.
She was arrested on charges of marijuana possession, not more than 20 grams, and narcotic equipment possession or use at midnight on May 28, 2020, according to an arrest report provided to McClatchy News by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Both charges against her were dropped in January 2021, county court records show.
Griffin is suing Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden and Grady Carpenter, who she says was on duty as a deputy and involved during both incidents, over the May 2020 encounter.
She is seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Aden wasn’t the sheriff during the encounters mentioned in the lawsuit, public information officer Michele Nicholson told McClatchy News in response to a request for comment on May 29. Larry Ashley was the sheriff before Aden.
“The events alleged in this lawsuit would have taken place prior to Sheriff Aden taking office. Therefore, he is unable to provide comments about this matter,” Nicholson said in a statement.
Griffin’s attorney Kevin Ramon Anderson, who is based in West Palm Beach, told McClatchy News that Aden is named as a defendant because he is the current sheriff at the time of the lawsuit’s filing.
He is sued in his “official capacity,” not in his “individual capacity,” Anderson said over the phone, and described what happened to Griffin as “one of those ‘conscience shocking’ events.”
“To know an individual is unclothed or totally naked, not once, but twice, and then you just kind of bring them out of their dwelling into a public area for people to have access to their appearance....it’s just unspeakable.”
“If that was your mother, if that was your wife, if she was your sister.... I think every person, including the spokespeople for the Sheriff’s Office would have something to say,” Anderson said.
Earlier lawsuit against deputies seeks over $250,000
Last August, Griffin filed a separate federal lawsuit against Aden, Carpenter and another sheriff’s deputy, Raphael Brown, over her Aug. 29, 2019 encounter with deputies, court records show.
Griffin wasn’t arrested then, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office’s records department confirmed to McClatchy News on May 30.
During the August 2019 incident, after deputies removed Griffin from her home while she was naked, one deputy “eventually” gave her “his jacket then placed her inside of a nearby patrol vehicle,” according to an amended complaint filed in December.
“The jacket was mid-length, partially covering (Griffin’s) torso, but her genitals and buttocks remained exposed,” the amended complaint says.
At some point, one deputy got a fitted sheet to cover Griffin, according to the filing, which says she was allowed inside her home to put clothes on.
After answering questions from Brown, the deputies left, the complaint says.
Attorney Alyssa M. Yarbrough, who represents Aden, Brown and Carpenter in this lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
In January, Yarbrough wrote Griffin is not “entitled to any relief” in a response to Griffin’s amended complaint, which shows she’s seeking more than $250,000 in damages.
Yarbrough said Brown questioned Griffin on Aug. 29, 2019 during the “execution of valid search warrant” and denied several of Griffin’s allegations.
She argued that Brown and Carpenter acted lawfully and “in good faith.”
This lawsuit is pending and is in the discovery phase, Anderson told McClatchy News.
Nicholson confirmed to McClatchy News that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida “executed the search warrant related” to this lawsuit, and that “the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was present at the time.”
Fatal shooting involving Okaloosa sheriff’s deputy
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office made headlines early in May over how a sheriff’s deputy fatally shot Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old U.S. Airman, at his Fort Walton Beach apartment on May 3, the Miami Herald reported. The deputy was responding to a reported disturbance at Fortson’s apartment complex when the shooting occurred.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Fortson’s family, said the deputy was at the wrong apartment when Fortson was shot six times, according to the Miami Herald.
The deputy’s name hasn’t been released by Aden as a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation is underway.
In regards to Griffin, Anderson said that although Aden wasn’t the sheriff when she was detained in 2019 and 2020, he said he hopes that he will “come to the table in good faith and try to get this resolved.”
“Let’s not put (Griffin) in a public forum where she’s going to be dealing with the scrutiny of individuals all over again and reliving this humiliating and embarrassing event,” he told McClatchy News.
“I think the sheriff can redeem himself. He can redeem his agency, especially in light of the world scrutiny now with respect to the young Airman who was shot this past month at his home. Let’s deal with this.”
Nicholson told McClatchy News that the sheriff’s office looks “forward to receiving service of Ms. Griffin’s lawsuit and to fully addressing her claims in court.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 1:03 PM with the headline "Woman held at police gunpoint was forced out of Florida home naked — twice, suit says."
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