A federal appeals court said excessive force was used by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies during a 2010 raid at a Pine Hills barbershop.
The owner of Strictly Skillz and his barbers tried to sue the deputies involved, and deputies tried to stop the lawsuit.
The federal appellate court ruled the Orange County Sheriff's deputies used excessive force when they stormed the barbershop on North Pine Hills Road, just south of the 408. The judge ruled the deputies had no probable cause to search the barbershop in the first place.
The sheriff’s office raided several barbershops in largely Hispanic and African American neighborhoods.
At Strictly Skillz deputies forced customers out, put several of the barbers and the owner on the ground and handcuffed them with zipties.
“This was basically a criminal raid on an administrative inspection,” said News 13 legal analyst Mark NeJame.
The sheriff's office did not have a warrant to search. What makes it worse, according to Nejame, is that an inspection was done at Strictly Skillz just two days earlier. All the barbers had proper licensing and no illegal activity was found.
“It’s a violation of the law, and twice before in Orange County with the sheriff's office this happened," NeJame said. "That said, I think the sheriff if he knew this was going on would not have permitted it.”
The officers involved tried to prevent a lawsuit by trying to claim qualified immunity, but the appellate judges say they are not.
Strictly Skillz is still in business today. We stopped by but the owner did not wish to speak about the ongoing litigation. Attorneys expect this case to head to civil trial in the coming months with a lawsuit pending.