A Jacksonville man is suing the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and three officers, arguing his constitutional rights were violated during a traffic stop when one of those officers sicced a K9 on him and forced him to crawl back to the handler before releasing the dog from his maimed right arm, leaving a trail of blood in the street.

Later, according to video of the stop, one of the officers said Joseph Bratcher was bitten because he “didn’t want to comply with us, and he’s acting like a fool.”

In federal court filings, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and the officers defended their actions during the May 2023 traffic stop in Northwest Jacksonville, which took place near a fatal shooting scene. Bratcher, now 35, was in a gray Mazda sedan when, according to a police report, a JSO officer on his way to the shooting scene accused Bratcher of dangerously speeding toward him, which became the impetus for the traffic stop.

The police charged Bratcher with reckless driving and resisting without violence, but the State Attorney’s Office ultimately dropped those charges months later.

It’s not clear if the officers that day suspected Bratcher of fleeing the scene of the shooting, though he was never accused of being involved.

Bratcher’s lawsuit, filed in November, claimed the traffic stop nonetheless exacted a painful price, requiring immediate hospitalization at UF Health and leaving him with “significant scarring and disfigurement.” 

Jail records show he had to post a $4,000 bond to get out the day following his arrest.

Video of the encounter captured by a JSO bodycam shows a tense but nonviolent scene until a JSO officer commanded a K9 to bite Bratcher as he appeared to be haltingly complying with a demand that he slowly walk backward. That followed several minutes during which Bratcher was slow to follow orders from JSO officers to exit his vehicle, protesting alternately that he was frightened, unarmed, suffered from PTSD and didn’t know the reason for the stop.

At least six officers, some with guns drawn, were on scene.

Bratcher faces a high bar to prevail in a lawsuit of this kind, but legal and policing experts contacted by The Tributary said the arrest report and body-cam video depicted a potentially problematic traffic stop, even if it’s not enough to ultimately win Bratcher damages.

“The officers do not claim, in anything that I reviewed, that they thought he had a weapon or that they thought he was going to attack them or that he was going to lunge toward them,” said Michael Benza, a Case Western Reserve University School of Law professor who reviewed the video and police report for The Tributary. “There doesn’t seem to be any of the threat issues that typically justify the use of force.”

“It seems simply like, ‘We are tired of dealing with this guy. We are going to put him in handcuffs, and so we’re going to use the dog,’” Benza said.

Pricey police records

Whether Bratcher’s story is indicative of a larger trend is unclear: Public records show that Matt Kachergus, Bratcher’s attorney, filed a request with JSO a few months after the traffic stop for all arrest reports involving K9s spanning a five-year period, as well as a copy of the policies and procedures for the canine unit.

The following month, on Sept. 11, JSO sent Kachergus an invoice for more than $35,000 to receive those records, noting the “due date” for receiving the payment as Oct.1.

The records show Kachergus didn’t follow up or pay the $35,000 price tag by the three-week deadline.

That is not the first time JSO has attempted to charge a hefty price, reaching into four and five figures, for police records in recent years, including under the leadership of Sheriff T.K. Waters, who has boasted about gains in the transparency of the agency because of his leadership.

The Tributary requested body-cam footage of the traffic stop in November. JSO has not provided the video, noting in an automated response that the estimated time to produce such records is six to eight months.

Bratcher’s attorney, Kachergus, provided the video to the Tributary.

The Tributary filed a records request last week for the same documents Kachergus sought to obtain: the policies and procedures for JSO’s K9 unit and all incident reports involving the use of a K9 spanning the past five years.

‘High-risk techniques’

JSO Officer Benjamin McEwan, in Bratcher’s May 2023 arrest report, wrote that he was headed to the scene of a shooting when Bratcher sped in his direction, veered into his lane and drove straight toward him. McEwan said he swerved to avoid a collision and noticed damage on the left back corner of the other car. McEwan went after Bratcher and initiated a traffic stop.

Bratcher stopped at the corner of West 26th and North streets. McEwan, soon joined by other officers, used “high-risk traffic stop techniques” to get Bratcher out of the vehicle.

“The suspect refused numerous commands to exit the vehicle,” McEwan said. “After a couple minutes the suspect stepped out of the vehicle; however, [he] refused [to] follow commands of officers. The suspect was warned multiple times his non-compliance could result in him being bitten by K9.”

On the bodycam footage, Bratcher is heard yelling: “I have done nothing wrong. You all are scaring me. I’m scared. You all have your pistols drawn.”

He eventually emerged from the car dressed in a white t-shirt, baggy denim shorts, high socks and flip-flops.

After he has exited the Mazda, his hands in the air, the police instruct Bratcher to walk backward toward the officer’s voice or a police K9 would be loosed on him. Bratcher takes slow steps backward, his hands still raised. An officer says Bratcher is not complying.

“I’m not ready to die, man,” Bratcher tells the police; he stops taking steps and twists his upper body to make his plea – “I don’t have nothing” – directly to the officers.

At that point, the K9, Ghost, trots toward Bratcher. Ghost circles back toward its handler then suddenly turns toward Bratcher, leaps for his right forearm and clamps his teeth. Bratcher screams and is yanked to the ground. Bratcher howls and squirms as an officer yells: “Crawl to me! Bring me the dog!”

A police officer steps forward, his video camera angle now showing at least four officers surrounding Bratcher, their guns drawn.

Bratcher moves with the dog, leaving a trail of blood behind.

A dog should only be used in the face of a severe threat, said Ian Adams, a former canine officer who is now a University of South Carolina criminology and criminal justice professor.

Adams also watched the video and read the police report at The Tributary’s request. “Canines are a really serious use of force,” Adams said.

“They cause really serious injuries, even in the best of cases.”

‘Perfectly fine’

When fire rescue arrived, a stocky, bearded officer says, “He’s perfectly fine,” while helping load the man, now shirtless and handcuffed behind his back, onto a stretcher. Addressing Bratcher, the officer says: “Hey, let’s not play those games.”

Bratcher is suing Waters and officers Justin Bridgeman, Matthew Herrera and Kyle McDonald over the May 17, 2023, traffic stop.

In their reply, the officers denied using excessive force or violating Bratcher’s constitutional rights and argued they are entitled to qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that protects government employees from frivolous litigation for performing their duties.

Attorneys for the sheriff and officers did not respond to requests for comment.

“Although the incident started with officers responding to shots fired in the area, there’s absolutely no evidence that Mr. Bratcher had anything to do with that,” Kachergus said.

Officer Bridgeman called orders to Bratcher, according to the lawsuit, which says McDonald instructed Herrera, a police K9 handler, to release his dog onto Bratcher.

Only after McDonald knelt on Bratcher’s back and Bridgeman placed him in handcuffs did Herrera compel the dog to let go of Bratcher’s arm, more than 30 seconds after the first bite, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit doesn’t level charges against McEwan.

Krista Torralva is a freelance journalist with a focus on civil and criminal courts. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Orlando Sentinel, The Dallas Morning News and other publications.  

Disclosure: Matt Kachergus is a financial supporter of The Tributary, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded by donations from readers, foundations and corporate sponsors.  Financial supporters play no role in editorial decisions at The Tributary. Find our editorial policies here.