“The Most Out-of-Control Police Officer Attacks a Handcuffed Woman TWICE and Gets SUED! “

The former JSO officer seen in this video punching a handcuffed woman at the jail will not face felony charges. She was already in handcuffs when the punches started. A Jacksonville police officer stood over Mayra Martinez, cuffed on the ground, unable to protect herself, and hit her three times in the stomach.

And it was the second time that night the police had beaten her. Both times were caught on camera. Martinez was no one’s idea of a dangerous criminal. She had been fired from a job. She was drunk and she would not leave a parking lot. That was the whole situation. For that, she was tackled outside a club and hours later beaten again inside a jail.

The officer was Akinyemi Borisade. And what makes this case rare is that he had to explain himself twice: first on the night it happened when internal investigators pulled him into a room, read him his rights, and questioned him. And then four years later, under oath in a lawsuit across the table from Martinez’s attorney with the video playing.

Both times he tried to justify beating a woman in handcuffs. Both times it came apart. For over 30 years, he sat on the bench. There is one rule in policing that every officer learns before almost any other: Once the cuffs are on, the fight is over. Watch this one explain twice why he did not stop.

“Can you have a seat? There you go. Okay. Once again, I’m Detective Cayenne. This is my partner, Detective Green. How do you pronounce your name?”

“Aki Borisade.”

“Akinyemi Borisade. Okay. Um, I know a lot has transpired tonight. You’ve probably been in contact with several members of your unit. You know, there was a criminal allegation tonight and that’s the reason why the integrity unit gets called. Okay. So, within JSO, you have an internal affairs that deals with policy and procedures and we deal with anytime laws may be violated. Okay. What I have to do per our policy and procedures due to the fact that this is a criminal investigation, I do have to advise you of your constitutional rights. You understand? Okay. You have any questions before we get started? So basically let me just go over these with you, and I know it’s something that you do on the streets every day, okay? So I’m not trying to treat you like you don’t understand or you don’t know, but it’s just something that we have to do for our policy and procedures, okay? And it says: You do have the following rights under the United States Constitution. You do not have to make a statement or say anything. Do you understand? Is that yes?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. Anything you say can be used against you in court. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So, besides her verbalizing and being belligerent, like not listening to what you’re saying, what else was she doing?”

“She kept crossing the line where like the officers stand.”

“Mhm.”

“And so the line that separates like the prisoner and officers basically from what I’ve been taught is that they’re not supposed to cross that line because it’s like officer safety. You don’t want them getting too close to like other officers or whatnot. So I advised her, ‘Stop crossing the line’ or whatnot.”

“So you basically wanted her to stand by the door.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That line really and truly is an imaginary thing for law enforcement officers that go to the… there’s no line that says a suspect can’t walk around. We would like to keep control and command of them, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But there’s that whole thing about that line is… and I’m going to ask you, okay, because you recently came out of the academy, so you probably know these rules better than I do, okay? Is there anything in our policy and procedures that says they can’t walk around while they’re in there? There is some limitations on what we can and can’t do. You know what I’m saying? And the number one limitation that we have to follow is the fact that when they’re in handcuffs, yes, you can, you know, just like you said, she comes out, she passes what you would consider as an imaginary line and you escort her back towards the door, correct?”

“And even like one morning, I closed my eyes and I put my hands behind my back when I was in the shower and I couldn’t feel my fingers. It felt like I was missing my hands. It was really a weird sensation. So, I’m just really struggling with that right now.”

“What is it about that line that pissed you off? Just that she wasn’t—”

“It didn’t piss me off. The line didn’t piss me off. It’s nothing. That didn’t piss me off.”

“So, did something get you angry?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“I mean, she ran towards me. I didn’t know what she was going to do. She could have spit in my face. She could have bit me. Like, she still had limbs and body parts that could have attacked me still.”

“In what way?”

“She could have bit me.”

“Okay.”

“She could have kicked me like she did. She could have shouldered me like with her shoulder off the curb that I was standing on.”

“Mhm. And what does the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office policy and procedures state about suspects that are handcuffed? Are we allowed to strike them?”

“Yes, sir.”

“In what way? ‘Cause she was handcuffed, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. And did you strike her?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. Did you strike her with an open hand or a closed fist?”

“Closed fist.”

“Do you remember the amount of times you struck her?”

“Believe it was three.”

“Okay. Where did you strike her at?”

“The stomach.”

“Okay. And like I said, you recently came from the academy, so I’m thinking that you’re a lot, well, you’re more well-versed in that aspect of, you know, active resistance and things of that and use of force. Where in the academy that they allow us to punch suspects that are handcuffed?”

“I mean, at that point, she’s physically and actively resisting.”

“Okay. If you’re saying she tried to kick you, which is what you said, right?”

“She didn’t try to, she did.”

“Okay. So, she kicked you and your response is you ball a fist up and you punch her three times in the stomach. What part of that falls under JSO protocol? I mean, we have takedown procedures, right? If she’s using her legs, would you agree with that? All right. Let me do this. Let me go outside. I’m going to speak to my supervisor. All right. Stand by.”

That same night this was treated as a possible crime. So internal investigators questioned Borisade and even they could not get past the obvious. One investigator stopped him cold and asked a question that hangs over this whole case: Where in the academy did they teach you to punch a suspect who was already in handcuffs?

Borisade had no real answer. Four years later in a lawsuit, an attorney asked it again, slower with the video rolling and nowhere for him to hide.

“We are on the record. The time is 10:04. Today is March 3rd, 2020. This is the video deposition of Akinyemi Borisade in the matter of Mayra Martinez versus Sheriff Mike Williams, et al. Would you raise your right hand, please? Do you swear or affirm the testimony you’re about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“I do.”

“Please state your full name for the record.”

“Akin Boran Cologne. B-O-L-O-N.”

“Sorry. Sorry, Sean. I was not deposing you. I was going for Mr. Borisade.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“One more time, please.”

“Akinyemi Borisade.”

“Okay. One more time.”

“Borisade.”

“Borsade.”

“Borisade.”

“Borisade.”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s like a sh?”

“Yes. Yes. Okay.”

“Like the singer from the 80s, Sade.”

“Sade. Yeah. Borisade. Okay. Gotcha. Um, my name is John Phillips. We haven’t had the opportunity to meet. Uh, I represent Mayra Martinez. Obviously, there’s a lawsuit going on and things are adversarial with court proceedings. My job today is to not be adversarial at all. I’ve got some questions. But my ultimate responsibility is to be polite and professional. So, no other law enforcement in your family?”

“No, sir.”

“Why law enforcement?”

“Uh, growing up I just watched Cops a lot with my dad and I’ve always been drawn to it and just wanted to help others, be there in their time of need. Be the calm in the storm. I mean, the main goal was to get on with patrol and then be a homicide detective if it’s always been my interest.”

“The calm in the storm. Um, would you describe what happened on April 26, 2016 as a storm?”

“Not necessarily a storm. I’d say the most stressful situation I’ve been into in my brief career.”

“Okay. Okay. So, April 27th, you’re riding around in your car, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What happens?”

“Uh, in reference to the call, I received a Signal 2 and 63, which is a dispute involving somebody who’s intoxicated, and I’m on the call as a backup officer. I’m responding to the incident and Vicory is the primary officer. He tells me through, I believe, a CAD message saying that he’s going to be a little bit late to the scene. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll go ahead and make contact.’ I did so. When I got there, I met Miss Martinez in the parking lot. She tells me that this place fired her for no reason and she just wants her stuff so she can leave, and she’s just irate and using more of the same language.”

“At that point, at the point you walk back out to Miss Martinez, had you determined whether a law was violated so far?”

“Yes, sir. Laws were violated at that point.”

“What laws were violated?”

“Uh, you have a victim saying that his genitalia was grabbed without his wanting. So that’s a battery.”

“Okay.”

“At that point, and then I had to issue the trespass warning, which I had not gotten to before you stopped me.”

“Okay. Did you ever charge her with battery?”

“No, sir.”

“Of one of the people inside?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay. And you didn’t charge her with any alcohol-related crimes, did you?”

“No, sir. I didn’t… you encounter a lot of people. I didn’t want to do that to her. Believed it was just a bad time.”

“Okay, fair.”

“So, go to arrest her. Vicory grabs her left arm. I grab her right, and immediately she just tenses up and braces. And Vicory goes to place the handcuff on her and he struggles with placing the handcuff on her.”

“What I’m trying to understand, and I have since day one, is how can Miss Martinez be so intoxicated to the point she can’t make a rational decision and could harm herself and others, and simultaneously be ushered over to a convenience store? How could she be both intoxicated to the point where she couldn’t make a rational decision and could harm herself or others, and be guided to a convenience store by officers?”

“Object to the form.”

“I believe with public intoxication that could be said for anybody that’s under the influence. They could be a threat to themselves. They could stumble into traffic. So, if you could… I mean, we were called to the scene, we would have waited with her at the gas station.”

“But you literally—”

“Sorry. I want you to finish.”

“I said we would have waited with her at the gas station until she left if need be, because the call wouldn’t have ended until she was in proper care.”

“Okay. But you didn’t say that. You said that she could even go wait on the sidewalk, but she refused.”

“Object to the form.”

“Right? Didn’t you just say that?”

“That’s a leading question because—”

“And I’m allowed to lead.”

“Yes, sir. I know that.”

“Mr. Borisade, my question is, didn’t you testify earlier—and I’m just asking—that this all could have been remedied if Miss Martinez had just gone to the sidewalk and she was advised she could just go to the sidewalk and end this whole trespass problem?”

“For—but you also left out the part where I said that we offered to call her an Uber as well and we could have waited with her as well.”

“Correct. She had multiple options that you presented to her: call an Uber, find somebody to help you go over to the convenience store and get some water, or go to the sidewalk. You presented those options to her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. But yet you also said in your report that she was intoxicated to the point where she could not make a rational decision and could harm herself and others, and just gave me a scenario where she could have stepped off a sidewalk into traffic.”

“It’s not my report. I drafted a report, so I’m not necessarily sure what was edited, omitted, replaced, changed.”

Watch the trap the attorney built. Borisade’s own report says Martinez was so intoxicated she could not make a rational decision and could harm herself and others. The officers offered to call her an Uber, told her she could wait on the sidewalk, told her to go get water at the store.

So the attorney asked a simple thing: which is it? Someone too drunk to think straight cannot also be trusted to calmly choose a ride home. Both cannot be true at once. And watch Borisade reach for the exit. Suddenly, that is not really his report. Someone may have edited it. But he signed it as the arresting and transporting officer, and he admits a signature means he checked it was accurate. A police report is a sworn record. You do not get to disown it the moment it turns on you.

“Who signed it?”

“I signed as the transporting officer.”

“Arresting and transporting officer signature. So when you sign this, you don’t have to make sure this is accurate?”

“Yes. You have to make sure it’s accurate.”

“Okay. And you said that it was accurate that it should be noted that the suspect was intoxicated to the point where she could not make a rational decision and could have harmed herself or others. You said that was accurate, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And you also said it was accurate that you advised her she could go to the sidewalk or the convenience store while waiting for an Uber, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Tell me about your strikes to Mayra Martinez at Scores.”

“Objection to form.”

“Where did you strike her and how many times?”

“I don’t recall the amount of times, but I know I struck her in the lower back right side area. And I know that I pushed her head down on top of her arm in attempt to get her arm loose that was under her.”

“Do you know who filmed it?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay. Have you ever learned who filmed it?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you believe that it accurately reflects what happened?”

“No, sir.”

“In what way does it not accurately reflect what happened?”

“It doesn’t capture the whole incident.”

“Okay, fair. Does it accurately reflect what happened in the minute or so that it captured?”

“Object to the form.”

“No, sir.”

“Why not?”

“How can it if it doesn’t give the pretext?”

“Okay, fair. Does it appear to have been doctored in any way, the minute that you’ve seen?”

“I can’t tell. I’m not a videographer.”

“Okay. Where Vicory picks her up by her arms and her handcuffs, was that in accordance with training?”

“I will say there’s different ways to pick somebody up that’s wearing handcuffs.”

“Okay.”

“And depending on the situation, if somebody’s actively resisting, because you can still resist while wearing handcuffs, then that is one method. Yes.”

“Okay. What was the justification for hitting Miss Martinez at that point?”

“Because she was actively resisting and not being necessarily willing to give her arm. She had it weighted under her.”

“Are you familiar with the general orders of the Office of Sheriff for Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office?”

“I’m not sure if those have changed.”

“Okay. I’m going to read a sentence to you: ‘It is the policy of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, JSO, to allow officers to use only a degree of force which is reasonable and necessary to effect an arrest or to protect themselves or others from personal attack, physical resistance, harm, or death.’ Is that what you were taught?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. What force are you allowed to use per your training to effect an arrest?”

“Objection to form.”

“Enough force necessary to effect the arrest, but within reasonable amount.”

“Okay. Can you shoot somebody to effect an arrest?”

“Object to form.”

“It depends on the circumstance.”

“Okay. At the point Mayra Martinez was on the ground, was she swinging a handcuff or have any weapons that were actively engaging against you or Officer Vicory?”

“She had the open cuff still and there was no way to tell if she had any weapons because she hadn’t been searched.”

“Okay. Were you under a threat of death?”

“Objection to form.”

“No, sir.”

“Were you under a threat of harm?”

“I was bitten.”

“You had been bitten earlier, but at the time of the strikes, were you under any threat of harm?”

“No, sir.”

Here is the entire case in one question. The attorney walks him to the exact moment he was hitting her and asks, “At the time of the strikes, were you under any threat of harm?” The answer is no.

There is a Supreme Court case, Graham v. Connor, that decides this: police force has to match the threat facing the officer at that moment—not a minute before, not what might happen next, right then. And the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has its own rules saying the same thing: only force that is reasonable and necessary. By his own words, at the moment he struck a handcuffed woman lying on the ground, there was no threat at all. That is not gaining control. That is punishment.

“You had been bitten earlier, but at the time of the strikes, were you under any threat of harm?”

“No, sir.”

“Objection to form.”

“Could she have bitten you again?”

“She could have.”

“I guess anybody could do anything. But was she in proximity? Was her mouth in proximity to any of your body parts at the time you were striking her?”

“Object to form.”

“Not at the time, but she still had limbs in which she could still strike me or Officer Vicory.”

“Okay. Tell me what happened at the Pre-Trial Detention Facility.”

“Sometimes she listens, sometimes she just doesn’t. Sometimes she makes light of it by like tiptoeing around the area where I’m telling her to stand. Then, I’m not sure how long it’s been, probably an hour or two, when she approaches me hurled over and teeth clenched. And that’s when I place my arms or my hands on her shoulders and I guide her back by the trash can and against the wall and tell her like, ‘Look, you have to stand right here. They’re going to call you back soon.’ And as I do that, I begin to walk away. She makes a kick at me. It’s like a glancing blow. And that’s when I initially was going to approach her and tell her like, ‘Don’t do that.’ But then as I do that, she kicks again. The second one is direct contact with my groin genitalia. And that’s when I administer three strikes to her abdomen as she’s continuously trying to kick. And it’s evidenced by her foot continuously going up. And by that time, as soon as I close the distance, she looks at me and she smiles and she says, ‘Now you’re fucked.’ And that was it. Another officer came up to me and said, ‘Hey, you’re on camera.'”

Stop on this one because it says everything. The moment Borisade finished hitting her, a fellow officer walked up. And what he said was not, “Stop.” It was not, “Is she okay?” It was, “Hey, you’re on camera.”

Think about what that tells you about the room. The worry was not that the force was wrong; it was that it had been seen. And in the deposition, Borisade admits the warning was about the camera because of, in his words, the media climate. But an officer doing his job by the book does not need to be warned about a camera. A camera only becomes a problem when there is something on it you would not want anyone to watch.

“I told him, ‘Okay.’ ‘Cause at that up until that point, I didn’t think that I did anything wrong or outside of the scope of my duties. Um, so I walk away and she’s just laying there and then at a certain point I call rescue.”

“Okay. You call rescue?”

“Yes, sir.”

“How did you call them?”

“Uh, I believe it was through the radio. I can’t recall fully.”

“You knew you had struck her at Scores many times?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You knew you had struck her at the pre-trial detention facility, PTDF?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you didn’t feel like those needed to be examined?”

“They did examine her.”

“Okay. Do you feel like she felt like she didn’t need to be examined by a medical doctor?”

“No, sir.”

“Why not?”

“I just didn’t believe that I caused injury as far as my strikes and where I placed them and how hard.”

“Based upon what? How did you arrive at that determination?”

“At which point, the PTDF or—”

“Either. Yeah. So let’s start with Scores. How did you determine that she couldn’t have possibly been injured as a result of your strikes at Scores?”

“Well, for one, Vicory asked her if she wanted any medical attention and recall her saying that she said no. And also the fact that she was still able to continue being like verbally abusive and just obscene.”

“This is the same person that you indicated was incapable of rational thought that you asked if she should go to the doctor though, right?”

“Objection.”

“Once the totality of circumstances were made or reviewed, that at that point she became irrational.”

“And you keep saying that. So let’s go into that. What do you mean by totality of circumstances?”

“Throughout the investigation.”

“Okay. But does that erase the fact that you thought she was incapable of rational thought at points?”

“I didn’t believe her to be irrational until the point where it took the force that was used to effect the arrest.”

“Do you know if a suspect or arrestee is allowed to resist unlawful force?”

“Object to the form.”

“No, sir.”

“You don’t know or they’re not?”

“Uh, I believe… I’ve never read that statute, so I wouldn’t be able to say.”

And listen to this small exchange because it is bigger than it sounds. The attorney asked Borisade a basic legal question: Does a person have any right to resist unlawful force from an officer? “No, sir,” he says. And when pressed, the truth comes out: he has never even read the statute.

Sit with that. This is the man deciding in the moment how much force is allowed, and he cannot tell you the rule that limits it. The law here is actually narrow. In Florida, you generally cannot fight even an unlawful arrest, though you are allowed to defend yourself against an officer’s excessive force. Either way, that line is exactly what he is paid to know. He puts his hands on people for a living and he admits he never learned where his own power ends.

“So I guess so now 795 to 809. I think that’s the… you said like a glancing blow or near miss.”

“Yes, sir. That was a glancing blow. The first kick.”

“So did it strike you?”

“A glancing. It’s like a brush.”

“Okay. Brush. And then—”

“That was a direct hit.”

“Why did you move towards her when she was kicking?”

“I was proceeding to tell her that you can’t do that.”

“Okay. Okay. And so she kicks you at or around the groin.”

“In the groin.”

“In the groin. Okay. So guys know this answer: you can have the testes hit and they hurt like heck or not. Did you have that contact with the testicles?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. And it hurt?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay. And where did you make contact?”

“In the stomach.”

“Okay. Why the stomach?”

“When I thought about it, I didn’t want to grab her legs because she wouldn’t be able to catch herself. I didn’t want to punch her in the face. Didn’t feel right.”

“Okay.”

“Uh, didn’t want to cause injury or maim like that.”

“How many officers were around at that point?”

“Three are pictured. I don’t recall who’s on the other side.”

“And who is this?”

“I don’t remember his name.”

“Okay. Andre, sound familiar?”

“I’ve seen it on reports and documents.”

“What did he say?”

“‘Hey, you’re on camera.'”

“Why? Why ‘Hey, you’re on camera’? Do you know?”

“At that time I didn’t know. I thought I did everything within the scope of my duties.”

“Okay. But he didn’t say… I mean, and I’m trying to get into JSO training and procedure: Do they teach you to act differently on camera than they do when camera’s not there?”

“They didn’t have body cameras first off when I was on the street, and they teach you to be or have integrity at all times.”

“Right.”

“So you wouldn’t—”

“Correct.”

“—you would act the same way you would if the camera was on or off.”

“But do you know why a fellow officer would warn you about a camera instead of warning you about having integrity?”

“I believe I had integrity, and probably warned me about the camera due to the media climate that we’re currently in and how things might look.”

“Okay.”

“Or be portrayed.”

“Okay. What do you mean by media climate?”

“Where officers are at times villainized for their actions.”

“Okay. Do you think you were villainized as a result of this?”

“I believe the media told their story.”

“Does that refresh your recollection as to what Andreas may have said to you about cameras at the time of the incident? Do you recall him saying, ‘They got cameras here, don’t be stupid’?”

“I remember him saying, ‘You’re on camera.’ That’s it.”

“Okay. No comment about ‘don’t be stupid’?”

“No, sir.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“No, sir.”

“Following this whole ordeal—and I mean by like the next day—have you spoken to any of the other officers, besides Vicory, Cayenne, Garrett, Brown, and those present at the sally port?”

“I’ve spoken to Cayenne.”

“In what way?”

“Uh, we actually live in the same neighborhood. Okay. So I see him in the gym a lot and talk to him in passing.”

“You talk about this case?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay. Your only law enforcement training was provided by JSO.”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s my understanding that yesterday Officer Vicory was asked, ‘Were you concerned with the use of force used in the parking lot at Scores?’ And he said yes, he was concerned about the use of force in the parking lot. Does that surprise you?”

“Yes.”

“Does it surprise you particularly in light of his text message to you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why?”

“It’s contradicting.”

“That’s all I have. Thank you for your time.”

Akinyemi Borisade was fired and he was charged, but only with a misdemeanor. He pleaded no contest. The court withheld adjudication and he served a single day in jail. If he stayed out of trouble, he would carry no permanent record at all.

And why it never became a felony is its own quiet scandal. Prosecutors said Martinez had been taken to the ground so many times that day—the parking lot, the jail, and more—that they could not prove which blow caused which injury. The sheer amount of force used on her is part of what shielded the officer from the more serious charge.

The city settled her lawsuit for $92,500, and a federal judge, refusing to let the city walk away clean, pointed to 10 earlier excessive force cases the department had done nothing about.

Once the cuffs are on, the fight is over. Every officer knows it. This one was told on camera, by his own partner, and by the badge itself, and he kept going anyway.