{"id":207581,"date":"2026-03-26T23:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/207581\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T23:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T23:09:07","slug":"mother-of-teen-punched-during-arrest-says-officer-went-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/207581\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of teen punched during arrest says officer went too far"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The mother of a teenage boy who was punched and taken to the ground by a Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office officer during an arrest at a McDonald\u2019s<\/a> said her son did not deserve the force used and had nothing to do with the large \u201cteen takeover\u201d that drew police to Blue Cypress Park last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The incident happened at a McDonald\u2019s on Fort Caroline Road, where video shows a teen seated and talking with an officer before the officer strikes him in the face and forces him to the ground. The teen was later arrested on a charge of resisting arrest, according to the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s mother, Ja\u2019Ree Butler, recorded cellphone video moments after the encounter, confronting the officer about what happened to her son.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is a minor! And you punched him!\u201d Butler can be heard saying in the video. The officer responds, \u201cYes, I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler said she is still trying to process what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the call from my son\u2019s friends that he was me, first he got punched in the face and he got arrested, I was devastated, heartbroken because, like, I know my son. I know he didn\u2019t deserve that,\u201d Butler said. \u201cHe\u2019s very respectful, very well mannered, non-confrontational.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a JSO incident report, police described the teen as a suspect and \u201cringleader\u201d among a group of teenagers and said officers saw him directing part of a crowd to cross the roadway near University Boulevard and Fort Caroline Road without using a crosswalk. Police said he later entered the McDonald\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Butler disputes that account, saying her son was at the park with friends and walked to the McDonald\u2019s, but was not involved in the takeover.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had nothing to do with the teen takeover,\u201d Butler said.<\/p>\n

According to the report, officers asked the teen for identification and told him to stand up three times. JSO says he refused to comply and resisted, prompting the officer to deliver one closed-fist strike and then perform a takedown to detain him.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office said it reviewed cellphone video and body-worn camera footage and found no policy violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cCell phone video and body-worn camera footage of this incident have been reviewed, and it was determined that there are no policy violations regarding use of force,\u201d JSO said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Butler said she approached the officer seeking an explanation and believes the department\u2019s conclusion is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t understand why, you know, that my son got punched in the face,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that\u2019s why I approached the officer just to understand, like, why that happened, why he decided to use that type of force against him. You know, I still need answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Butler said the encounter has taken an emotional toll on both her and her son, and she chose to document her exchange with police through a Facebook live video to preserve what she says occurred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want my side and my son\u2019s side to be twisted in any of this,\u201d Butler said. \u201cSo, the only way that I would show proof that, hey, this is what happened, this is what was said, was to make sure that I documented it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arrest came days after officers shut down a teen takeover at Blue Cypress Park that JSO said involved more than 200 teens. Three girls, ages 12 and 13, were arrested last Wednesday in connection with that incident, according to police.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The mother of a teenage boy who was punched and taken to the ground by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1039,116,118,117,1872],"class_list":["post-207581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval-county","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}