“I Know My Rights:” FSU Student Granted Pretrial Diversion for Grabbing UFPD Lieutenant's Arm After he Investigated her Boyfriend for Trespassing
On September 5, University of Florida Police Department (UFPD) Lieutenant Kristopher Sheffield arrested Florida State University (FSU) student Adeline Hancock, 20, and charged her with battery on specified personnel.
“[Hancock] actually and intentionally grabbed my right arm against my will,” reported Sheffield. “At the time, I was attempting to speak to her boyfriend for suspicion of trespassing on a construction site. Due to her grabbing me, and refusing to give us space, I detained [her] boyfriend, placing him in my agency issued handcuffs. [Hancock] then kept walking towards us and repeatedly kept saying, ‘you didn't read him his rights!’ I told [Hancock] multiple times to stay back, which she refused. The Halo Law was explained to [Hancock], [to] which she stated, ‘I can be here; I know my rights!’”
Hancock was not charged with violating the Halo law, which gives an officer the authority to force someone to stand 25 feet away when they’re conducting a criminal investigation. It was passed relatively recently and there is an active lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.
In his report, Sheffield emphasized that he was clearly identifiable as a law enforcement officer.
Hancock, who has no criminal history, was released on recognizance by Judge Sheree Lancaster.
Lancaster ordered Hancock to not possess any weapons or firearms.
Hancock retained legal counsel from Criminal Defense Attorney Matt Landsman, who helped her get a pretrial diversion for the third-degree felony less than a month after her arrest. If Hancock can abide by a set of conditions for six months, prosecutors will drop the case outright.
The agreement is almost entirely made up of basic conditions, with the only special conditions being court costs and/or community service.
