07/12/2021
ALL FLORIDA JUSTICE BRINGS CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT AGAINST CITY OF WILLISTON, FLORIDA POLICE DEPARTMENT AND NOW-FIRED POLICE OFFICER BRYAN LANDIS
On July 3, 2020, Jerry Hoffman was walking early in the morning down a city street heading to a meeting when he passed by a City of Williston police car that was parked on private property at an abandoned hospital. Mr. Hoffman was surprised to see a police car parked in this location because it was completely hidden on three sides from public view, and was rather “tucked away.” There seemed no good reason it was there. Mr. Hoffman felt it was strange a police car was parked in a place where it could do little good, but proceeded on to his meeting.
About two hours later, Mr. Hoffman was returning to his home after his meeting walking along the same street when he noticed that the same police car was in the same spot as it was two hours ago. Rather annoyed feeling that his tax dollars were being wasted, Mr. Hoffmann began video recording the officer sitting in his police car.
That officer was then-Sergeant and now-fired officer Bryan Landis.
After he finished filming, Mr. Hoffman began to walk away. A few moments later, as he was walking along the edge of the roadway, Officer Landis drove up to Mr. Hoffman in his police car, rolled down his window, and asked Mr. Hoffman if he owned the property he was walking on, and accused him of trespassing.
When this interaction began, since he was concerned about what was about to happen to him, Mr. Hoffman began recording the entire event of his interaction with Officer Landis on his cellular phone.
Mr. Hoffman was not trespassing. He was walking along the public right-of-way. And even if it wasn’t a public right-of-way he was walking along a public easement over private property (like how sidewalks are public easements over private property often). And, even if he wasn’t walking along an easement, he couldn’t be trespassing because the property he was walking over (by a foot or two) had no signs warning people not to trespass, nor had the owner of the property ever warned Mr. Hoffman not to trespass on the property, nor had the owner ever asked Officer Landis or the City of Williston Police Department for help. At least one of these things would have had to have happened for Mr. Hoffman to even possibly be guilty of criminal trespassing.
Mr. Hoffman never answered Officer Landis’ question. He didn’t answer his question because he didn’t hear it. However, even if he had heard it, Mr. Hoffman never had any legal obligation to answer Officer Landis‘ question. A citizen has no obligation to answer questions of the police when they’ve done nothing wrong.
When Mr. Hoffman did not respond to Officer Landis, however, Officer Landis became infuriated. He then turned his police car hard left and drove over the grass toward Mr. Hoffman stopping short of him, leaving Mr. Hoffman in fear initially that he was going to be run over with the car.
Officer Landis then quickly jumped out of the car and immediately and aggressively ordered Mr. Hoffman to put his hands on the hood of the police car while firmly pointing to the hood with his outstretched arm. Mr. Hoffman refused to comply, and immediately began to protest that he had done nothing wrong whatsoever and so he did not have to comply.  Officer Landis, however, insisted he was guilty of trespassing.
When Mr. Hoffman did not immediately comply and protested that Officer Landis was wrong about the law, Officer Landis only became more aggressive. He began to physically attack, manhandle, punch and abuse Mr. Hoffman in order to force him to comply. And while he did do Officer Landis was so desperate to take away Mr. Hoffman’s phone to stop him from recording that he grabbed onto the phone so hard that he actually cracked it.
A citizen can resist an unlawful arrest by a police officer as long as the citizen does so without force or violence. A citizen can also defend himself from excessive force. As such, Mr. Hoffman did his best to retreat from Officer Landis by twisting his body and backing away. After he got away from Officer Landis, as he backed away and up the road he continued to film, and he then told Officer Landis for the first time that his video was being live streamed on the Internet.
As soon as Officer Landis heard this, no doubt because he realized the significant illegality of his actions were being published to the world, he immediately stopped pursuing Mr. Hoffman.
Officer Landis then ordered Mr. Hoffman to keep walking away and up the road. When Mr. Hoffman continued to protest the whole situation, and wasn’t walking away fast enough for his liking, Officer Landis repeatedly directed him to “keep moving.” At one point, according to Mr. Hoffman, as he backed away Officer Landis kicked him in the ankle in an attempt to trip him.
Ultimately, Officer Landis ended his unnecessary and improper aggressive by simply getting back in his police car and driving away. He very wisely never arrested Mr. Hoffman, nor gave him any type of citation, nor took any action against him.
Mr. Hoffman certainly was not going to accept these flagrant and egregious violations of his First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution to be free from the police unlawfully detaining him, using excessive force against him, and preventing him from exercising his free-speech rights to video record a governmental official in public doing his official duties. As such, Mr. Hoffman filed a formal complaint against Officer Landis.
His complaint was ultimately investigated and processed by the City of Gainesville, Florida, Police Department, as well as the Office of the State Attorney for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida, in Gainesville. Both agencies conducted investigations of the matter, and the Gainesville Police Department subjected Officer Landis to significant questioning.
During the investigation, it was determined that Officer Landis had absolutely no probable cause to interact with Mr. Hoffman as he did, and that, in fact, he had no probable cause to talk to Mr. Hoffman or stop him AT ALL. It was further determined that Mr. Hoffman was never guilty of trespassing, nor could he ever have possibly been guilty. The investigators also determined that Officer Landis was lying about his version of events and the facts of what happened, and that he could not even be trusted to tell the truth.
To make matters worse, the Office of the State Attorney wrote a letter to the Chief of Police of the City of Williston Police Department, reminding the Chief that the Office of the State Attorney had several times in the past advised the Chief of problems with Officer Landis’ behavior, testimony, and truthfulness. Now, in light of his illegal behavior in Mr. Hoffman’s case, along with his lying and established untruthfulness, the Office of the State Attorney was putting the City of Williston Police Department on notice that it would no longer prosecute any case where Officer Landis was to be a witness because Officer Landis was simply not a believable person, and he had a history of violently violating citizens’ rights.
In other words, Officer Landis had a history well known to the City of Williston Police Department and the State Attorney of being a police officer who was abusive and untrustworthy. The police department however, even after being warned, did nothing to stop him or protect the rights of citizens. And so the State Attorney was not even going to allow Officer Landis to testify in cases anymore where his testimony was needed to prove that anyone arrested was guilty of a crime because he was such an established liar.
Criminal charges were ultimately brought against Officer Landis for his actions respecting Mr. Hoffman. Those charges are still pending. And, the City of Williston Police Department did the right thing and did terminate Officer Landis’s employment as a result of his actions.
However, this was far too little and too late for the City of Williston Police Department to avoid liability to Mr. Hoffman. Investigations conducted by the City of Gainesville Police Department and others revealed that in the eight years that Officer Landis had worked for the City of Williston Police Department, the police department had provided him with virtually no training whatsoever in how to be a police officer or how to investigate crimes, other than traffic crimes and traffic violations. In all those years, Officer Landis had no sufficient training, education, or guidance with regard to the status or requirements of the law, changes in the law, proper police procedure, proper use of force, or many other matters the typical police officer would be expected to be constantly familiar with. Indeed, Officer Landis admitted that he did not even understand the requirements for the crime of trespassing in Florida over which he violated Mr. Hoffman’s rights. 
As a result of Officer Landis‘ egregious violations respecting Mr. Hoffman‘s Constitutional rights, this lawsuit has been brought against him in federal court in Gainesville for all proper damages that Mr. Hoffman could be owed under Federal law.
Because the City of Williston Police Department wholly and completely failed to properly train and supervise Officer Landis all those years, the City of Williston Police Department is also being sued because if it had done it’s job to train and supervise Officer Landis that it should have done, these violations that Mr. Hoffman suffered wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Furthermore, specifically because it failed to properly train, discipline or supervise Officer Landis even after it was fully aware from the multiple complaints by the Office of the State Attorney of how bad an officer he really was, the fact that the City of Williston Police Department still chose to do nothing to reign in this rogue officer’s conduct to stop him from violating the Constitutional and other rights of citizens is reprehensible. In the factual sense and the legal sense. If the police department knowingly allows an officer to run roughshod over the rights of citizens then it is as liable to those citizens as is the officer.
The City of Williston Police Department chose to turn a “blind eye” to a “bad apple” in its department that turned into a “rotten” officer. And because of that, they are as liable to Mr. Hoffman for the damages and injuries that he suffered from Officer Landis just as is Officer Landis.
Most police officers are hard-working dedicated men and women who work in conditions where their personal safety is always an issue, and despite the risk to themselves they do what needs to be done to protect society. But when officers cross the line and pretend that the Constitutional rights of the same citizens that created their jobs do not matter, then those citizens have a right, and some would say an obligation, to fight back in court and demand justice. For them. And for everyone.
If you or a loved one has been subjected to excessive force or other violations of your Constitutional or civil rights by the police, call us. We are here to help. We handle civil rights violations claims against police departments and sheriffs’ offices all over the State of Florida. If something happened to you that wasn’t right, call us. Let’s see if we can help you get the justice and compensation you deserve while sending a message to police officers and agencies that they have to follow the same rules and laws that everyone else does, and that they exist only to protect the safety and rights of citizens, and we expect no less of them.
