{"id":390803,"date":"2026-09-04T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390803\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T23:10:08","slug":"woman-sues-jacksonville-sheriff-t-k-waters-city-former-officer-accused-of-improper-touching-during-traffic-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390803\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman sues Jacksonville sheriff T.K. Waters, city, former officer accused of improper touching during traffic stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A woman is suing the City of Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters, and a former Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office officer in federal court, claiming a 2024 traffic stop led to her being improperly touched without her consent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed this week, names former JSO officer Reginald McKinney as the primary defendant. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, was 23 years old at the time of the incident. She is now 25.<\/p>\n

Her attorney, Mary Sherris, says the sheriff\u2019s office needs to be held accountable \u2014 not just for what happened to her client, but for what she describes as a broader pattern of misconduct within JSO.<\/p>\n

\u201c23 years old, it\u2019s dark out. She\u2019s alone. And she\u2019s dealing with an armed police officer,\u201d Sherris said.<\/p>\n

What the lawsuit alleges<\/p>\n

According to the lawsuit, McKinney pulled the plaintiff over around 1 a.m. in the Edgewood neighborhood because her license was suspended.<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges McKinney told the woman he had the authority to arrest her, then turned off his body camera and directed her to follow him to a secluded location several blocks from the original traffic stop.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges McKinney repeatedly told the plaintiff she was \u201cfine\u201d and \u201chot,\u201d asked for her phone number, and asked her for a hug \u2014 telling her he had already turned off his body-worn camera.<\/p>\n

Once at the secluded location, the lawsuit states the woman complied with a hug because she was afraid. The complaint alleges that while hugging her, McKinney intentionally touched her buttocks and groin area without her consent.<\/p>\n

Officer arrested, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor<\/p>\n

The woman reported the incident to police shortly after it happened. McKinney was arrested and charged with false imprisonment and battery. He resigned from JSO.<\/p>\n

Sheriff T.K. Waters addressed McKinney\u2019s arrest at a news conference in September 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a member of this agency violates the law \u2014 and I\u2019ve said it time and time again, I hope our officers are listening and I hope the public is listening \u2014 we are not going to tolerate it,\u201d Waters said. \u201cThey\u2019re held to a higher standard than our public.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKinney pleaded guilty in March 2026 to misdemeanor battery. The felony false imprisonment charge was dropped. He was sentenced to six months probation, which ended early in mid-July.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit alleges wider pattern at JSO<\/p>\n

The lawsuit goes beyond Jane Doe\u2019s case. Attorney Mary Sherris lists 12 incidents with allegations of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse by JSO officers and employees dating back to 2017. The list includes the arrest of then-JSO officer Alejandro Carmona-Fonseca, who pleaded guilty to sending nude images and videos to a teenager and was sentenced to federal prison.<\/p>\n

Sherris argues the sheriff\u2019s office lacks proper training and supervision of its officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cStopping one officer from repeating his conduct is one thing, but correcting the behavior \u2014 the institutional behavior of JSO \u2014 is the bigger picture here,\u201d Sherris said.<\/p>\n

Her client\u2019s goal, she said, is broader than her own case.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants what happened to her to be taken seriously, and she wants to help ensure that another young woman is not placed in the same position,\u201d Sherris said.<\/p>\n

JSO, McKinney decline to comment<\/p>\n

News4JAX reached out to McKinney by text asking about the lawsuit. He read the message but did not respond.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office responded to a request for comment with a statement: \u201cWe would be unable to comment as a result of pending litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

News4JAX is working to learn more about each incident outlined in the lawsuit and how each allegation was investigated at the time.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A woman is suing the City of Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters, and a former Jacksonville…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6206,116,118,117,1872],"class_list":["post-390803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-i_team","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390803","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=390803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}