Woman accused of attacking Jacksonville police officer tells her story
30-year-old with no criminal record could face up to 10 years in prison
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Brittany [Chrishawn] Williams [Moore], a Jacksonville woman charged with battery and assault on an officer and resisting arrest, spoke out for the first time about the day, seven months ago, but when she questioned why a police officer was in her driveway and ended up in jail charged with two felonies.
“It was a Wednesday,” Williams, said.
She and her husband, Ausar Moore, were having a day for themselves.
“I was in the middle of applying my clay mask, as well as running a bubbly bath, and he was making me one of my favorite dishes, tuna noodle casserole, he was in the kitchen cooking for me, because I am supposed to be practicing self-care because I am a workaholic,” she said. “I will never forget.”
The couple’s R&R was about to be over.
“Brittany, there’s an officer outside just parked in the driveway and he’s been there for a while and I don’t know if you want to go and check it out,” Moore said.
“So I go outside, and I say, ‘Hi officer, can I help you? How can I help you?’” Williams recalled saying. “He just immediately started to yell at me and tell me things like, ‘I can be here if I want to — this is a public lot.’ Things that were absolutely ridiculous. I automatically felt threatened.”
Williams said she went back inside.
“I told him ‘I’m going to call 911 to report you.’ He laughed at me and was like ‘Ha! They are just (going to) call me anyway.’”
Williams said she called for help.Williams was charged with battery and assault on an officer and resisting arrest. Williams does not have a criminal record, but she faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of both charges.
Her attorneys say they believe after the State Attorney’s Office reviews the evidence in the case, they will drop all charges against her.
Caught on tape
Cameras capture the moment the officer is heard talking with a possible witness, not seen on camera but said, “She didn’t kick you!”
The officer responded, “She kicked me while I was inside. Go somewhere, unless you want to be a witness to it.”
The arrest report states that while Williams was taken into custody, a semi-automatic pistol fell off her person and onto the floor.
“I have the right to protect myself and have a weapon inside of my house,” Williams said. “That was just a reason and an excuse to attack me. I also had, until recently because of this situation, a concealed weapon license. If I wanted to carry it, I can legally do that.”
Williams did let the officers know she had a gun before being taken into custody, the report stating: “HQ stated the complainant advised she has a gun and would shoot the police if they came near her.”
Williams questions the officers’ use of force.
“They broke my teeth on the floor right in front of the stairwell,” Williams explained.
News4Jax showed the video to Alex Piquero, a criminology professor and chair of the department of sociology at the University of Miami.
“I saw a lot of force,” Piquero said. “Looking at the video, that there’s a lot of empty space.”
Officers talk among themselves; experts react
Here’s some of the conversation between the officers captured on police body camera video, the day of the incident.
One officer asked the arresting officer, “Why did you park here?” The officer responded, “Why not? I am out of the roadway.” A laugh is heard.
“Just be sure when you write your narrative, there’s no real example of… I did not activate my camera immediately because I was not anticipating the citizen’s reaction. Right. I pulled over here really quick,” explained one officer to another.
Williams said she was taken to an empty lot, just yards away from her home. She said they held her in that lot for a period of time before they brought her to jail.
“There’s nothing illegal with that. The question is was that appropriate?” Piquero said.
Jefferson was asked if he thought race played a factor in the case.
“I don’t know. … I don’t know the mindset of the officer,” Jefferson said. “It just did not have to go this far. Would an officer go to another type of neighborhood and sit in someone’s driveway without permission? I can tell you the answer to that. The answer is more than likely no.”