Florida man awarded over $250,000 for false arrest for cocaine possession
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida sheriff’s office has been ordered to pay more than $250,000 to a man who was wrongfully arrested by deputies in 2018 for possession of cocaine which tests later revealed was was sugar.
A unanimous vote by a Tallahassee jury said Leon County Sheriff’s Office Deputy James Dills had no probable reason to detain Miles Evora, 51, and that the deputies’ actions caused damage to Evora.
In total, Evora, a father of six and local barber, received $269,810.
Evora attorneys Ryan Molaghan and Paul Aloise, both of Tallahassee and the law firm Brooks LeBoeuf, said they “are extremely grateful for the attention of the jury throughout the trial.”
“The verdict in this case is the culmination of Mr. Evora’s long journey to seek justice and we are very pleased that he was able to get the justice he deserved,” they said in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. .
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On Dec. 18, 2018, Evora was driving north on Janet Drive in Tallahassee, Florida when he was stopped by Dills for running through a stop sign, which Evora denies, according to court records.
After receiving permission, Dills and fellow MP Scott Littlefield searched his car where they found a white substance on the floorboard.
Dills said he believed it was crack “based on (his) training and experience”, in his initial arrest affidavit and in the written account of the incident.
He continued: “I was able to recover a piece of the substance which on closer inspection confirmed my suspicions and belief that the substance was crack.”
Dills later said he tested positive for crack in a “field test” of which there is no record.
Once deputies mustered the substance, Dills “forcefully restrained (Evora),” which he “opposed” and flexed his muscles, according to court records. It was then that the two deputies forcefully punched Evora on the sidewalk and used a Taser on him, Evora said in court records.
Evora was taken to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare before being jailed and incarcerated in the Leon County Detention Center for possession of a controlled substance, resisting an officer without violence, and officer battery, according to court records.
In December 2019, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement tested the white stuff and determined that the “fragments of off-white waxy material” were in fact not crack cocaine. This discovery caused State’s Attorney Jack Campbell to drop all charges against Evora.
The following October, an independent lab concluded that the substance was sugar, which Evora later elaborated as “frosting from a Danish pastry” in court records.
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“The Leon County Sheriff’s Office respects the verdict of the jury in this case,” read a statement from Leon County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Angela Green. As of now, no decision has been made on an appeal, she added.
Deputy Dills, who was hired in January 2016, is currently employed as a “professional standards detective” at the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, Green said, adding that he was not subject to an investigation and had not been sanctioned.
Deputy Scott Littlefield, who was hired in July 2016, currently works in the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and is assigned to the department’s patrol unit. He was not reprimanded for his role in Avora’s arrest.
Attorneys representing Avora said they hope the Leon County Sheriff’s Office “takes this as an opportunity to evaluate its staff and policies to ensure the high degree of professionalism required by this office is achieved.” .
In February, an informal notice of intent to sue was sent to the Leon County Sheriff’s Office regarding the wrongful detention of a Havana, Florida man who refused to show his identity, according to documents obtained by through public records requests.
Follow Christopher Cann on Twitter @ChrisCannFL
USA Today
