Report: No merit to claims Daytona Beach officers touched woman inappropriately, slammed her

A woman claims Daytona Beach police officers slammed her into the ground, scratched her body and touched her inappropriately.

Briana Watkins said it happened last month as officers swarmed an apartment complex to arrest two men, who police believed had a gun.

In a report, the Daytona Beach Police Department said it found no merit to her complaint.

Channel 9 requested the body camera video of her being searched, but police said the sergeant who performed the search had not been wearing a camera and that sergeants generally don’t wear cameras.

Watkins had been in a car with her husband, Terry Howard, and Ulesey O’Neal. The car was heading into the Carolina Club apartments, and police were following it.

A Volusia County deputy said he had seen a laser light flashing from inside the car, and believed the men had a gun.

But the men said they only had a lighter that looked like a gun.

"If he would have just said he was a police officer, it would have been done. It would have been dead. I would have shown him it was a lighter and it would have been over with,” said Howard.

In the complaint, Watkins claimed Daytona Beach police officers slammed her into the ground, despite her telling them she had metal plates in her arm.

She also claimed officers would not let her tend to her crying infant, and she said police grabbed her chest and groin when they searched her.

Police charged the men with pointing a laser light.

The criminal case against Howard and O'Neal is still pending. Watkins is not facing any charges.

Watkins declined to comment on the complaint.

Cox Media Group