Bodycam shows former DeSoto County corrections supervisor beat inmates

ARCADIA, Fla. — The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office released disturbing new video showing a former corrections supervisor beat two inmates.

DeSoto County Sheriff James Potter said Sgt. Luis Tovar faces two battery charges after kicking and punching inmates Darion Hawkins and Arcadia Lopez on Dec. 13.

"[the video] may invoke certain emotions where you become disappointed, sad or even angry, and I have to tell you," Potter said in a pre-recorded Facebook message posted Tuesday afternoon. "I share those same feelings with you."

The Sheriff's Office posted Facebook video Tuesday afternoon that includes security and body camera video from the incident.

Potter said Tovar served as a detention sergeant and shift supervisor. The sheriff said Tovar was fired after his arrest.

FOX 4 also obtained an arrest report through a public records request.

The report said Tovar repeatedly punched and stomped on two inmates without being provoked.

The report said Tovar tried to simultaneously swap inmates from the jail's isolation cell just before 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13. Things quickly spiraled out of control.

Body camera video shows Hawkins argue with deputies. Hawkins said he tried to retrieve his sandals before deputies surrounded him.

"Now y'all cornering me, it makes feel like I'm targeted," Hawkins said in the body camera video.

The arrest report said Tovar then punched Hawkins "without cause or provocation."

Security camera footage shows Tovar repeatedly punch Hawkins and force him to the ground before deputies handcuffed and removed him from the cell.

Tovar then grabbed the other inmate, Lopez, and slammed him to the ground "without cause," according to the report. Body camera video shows Tovar kick Lopez, who is handcuffed, in the head, before immediately apologizing.

"[expletive], are you okay?" Tovar said.

"Why are you punching me, bro?" Lopez responds.

"I am so sorry," Tovar said.

"I am so sorry for you!" Lopez replied.

Tovar later claimed Lopez was injured after he slipped on the floor, according to the report.

The Sheriff's Office said Hawkins resisted another detention deputy as he stood handcuffed outside the cell. Hawkins appeared to spit at Tovar, the Sheriff's Office said, after Tovar emerged from the cell and grabbed ahold of him.

The security camera video showed Tovar then repeatedly punch Hawkins as he's handcuffed from behind. Hawkins right eye was clearly bleeding and swollen, the arrest report said.

Deputies then placed Hawkins in a restraint chair.

Body camera video showed Tovar repeatedly punch Hawkins as he moved slightly in the chair. Tovar tells Hawkins to "stop resisting" as the inmate yells.

The report said Tovar punched Hawkins in the throat and groin even after he is restrained.

"We are not above the law, and most be held accountable for our actions just as any other citizen might be," Potter said in the a previous statement posted to Facebook on Dec. 17.

Tovar was booked into jail and now faces two counts of battery. Jail records show Tovar was released on $1,000 bond. He has a court date set for Jan. 7.

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