Staff at the Mayo Clinic alerted a JSO officer who was on site working an off-duty shift to the injuries found on Allison Fierro’s face. Fierro said she got them after being pushed to the ground by Duval County jailers. A detective with JSO’s integrity unit was dispatched to the hospital, and from her hospital bed Fierro described to him being slammed to the floor. When her face hit the floor, she heard something “crack” but was told to “shut up” when she asked to see medical personnel, she told the detective. Details of the call can be seen in the card filled out by JSO, above.
Published on April 30, 2025 at 12:31 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter.
Allison Fierro’s face was unmarked when she was booked into the Duval County jail on a DUI.
When she bonded out three days later, her eyes were a frightful black-and-blue mask, the result of a violent “straight-arm-bar” takedown by two officers who said the 108-pound, 55-year-old woman pleading for her anxiety meds was being “uncooperative.”
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
The male officer who slammed Fierro’s face into the floor and the female officer who assisted him didn’t file the requisite “response-to-resistance” report, despite a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office mandate that such reports be filed whenever a detainee is injured by staff.
Despite that omission, no one was disciplined.
The reason: Internal Affairs was “unable to determine if officers were aware Fierro sustained any injuries.
Fierro received a short note from Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters expressing his “regret” that her experience at his jail was “unfavorably perceived.”
Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.
It’s the latest disturbing episode to emerge from the jail, where this past month eight corrections officers and one sergeant were suspended following the death of a 31-year-old father who was allegedly beaten by staff, according to his family’s attorney, while being detained on two misdemeanors.
Allison Fierro’s experience occurred last year but was previously unreported.
She was arrested early Jan. 12, 2024, in Neptune Beach on suspicion of DUI and was slammed to the floor shortly after her booking and video court appearance, which she said had elevated her already high blood pressure.
By the time Fierro bonded out on Jan. 15, she still had not been treated for her injuries, she said, despite making several pleas both verbally and on a computer tablet for that purpose.
A friend picked her up at the jail and drove her straight to the Mayo Clinic, which called 911 upon getting a look at her face. That got the attention of JSO. Hospital staff also alerted an officer who was on site working an off-duty shift.
A detective with JSO’s integrity unit, which investigates possible criminal behavior by officers, was dispatched to the hospital. Photos of Fierro’s face were taken, and she described to the detective being slammed to the floor while pleading with two officers, later identified as William Rudy and Erin Henderson, that she needed her meds. When her face hit the floor, she heard something “crack” but was told to “shut up” when she asked to see medical personnel, she told the detective.
The integrity unit turned the investigation over to internal affairs after finding there was “no criminal element.”
The investigation included looking at surveillance footage, examining photos of Fierro’s face, and interviewing the two officers, each for less than five minutes, plus a supervisor. All denied knowing that Fierro had been injured or that she had asked for medical attention.
Fierro said internal affairs officers did not interview her, and there is no indication in the file whether records from the tablet were examined. Absent awareness of an injury, investigators decided there was no need to file a response-to-resistance report.
In response to a public records request, the Sheriff’s Office told The Tributary that the surveillance footage has been recorded over and could not be shared. The same department told Fierro’s attorney, Matt Kachergus, who filed a notice of intent to sue, that the footage had been preserved.
Aubrey Land, who spent years as a Florida Department of Corrections inspector before becoming a consultant on prison issues, said it is clear that the officers should have filled out the form and that failing to do so violated Florida Model Jail Standards, which jails across Florida must meet to ensure the constitutional rights of those incarcerated are upheld.
“I would expect there to be some type of disciplinary action being taken,” he said.
Varying accounts
Fierro, who had never been arrested before and who eventually pleaded to reckless driving, had just finished seeing the judge over a video link and returned to the booking area when she asked for her meds.
She said she felt faint, that her blood pressure was rising. The officers said she began yelling at the nurse when the medication was denied. Fierro told the integrity unit detective that she raised her voice because the room had gotten louder as more arrestees were brought in.
The Tributary received audio of the officers’ interviews through a public records request. Rudy, the officer who did the takedown, said Fierro “pulled away” after she threw the bedroll, prompting the takedown.
“Once we deemed that she wasn’t going to be a threat anymore, we didn’t have to handcuff her when we escorted her. We got her up. There was no complaints of injuries, or any visible injury, no blood, no nothing,” he said. Rudy was not asked what Fierro did to make him think she may have been a threat.
Henderson said Fierro “threw something at me and Officer Rudy” although she didn’t say what and wasn’t asked. Contradicting Rudy, she said Fierro was cuffed after being picked up off the floor.
Both officers said the force used was not excessive.
Fierro described the takedown differently, recalling her “entire left eye socket” smacking the floor and saying, “Oh my god, I think my face is bleeding. I think my bones are cracked.”
Fierro confirmed that she was handcuffed afterward and said she told the officers multiple times she’d been injured.
JSO’s response-to-resistance policy outlines when a form needs to be filled out, including when “physical force was used on a subject and the force resulted, or was alleged to have resulted, in any injury, regardless of the severity.” A takedown would fall under the definition of force, according to the policy.
In addition to making requests for medical attention via the tablet, Fierro said she would point to her bruises every day as nurses made their rounds and say: “I didn’t come in with this.” She said she was ignored.
The Tributary’s request for the tablet records was denied.
On March 24, 2024, the day after Henderson and Rudy sat for their brief interviews, JSO mailed Fierro a letter telling her the staff had acted properly and the matter was closed.
Disclosure: Matt Kachergus is a financial supporter of The Tributary, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded by donations from readers, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in editorial decisions at The Tributary. Find our editorial policies here.
This story is published through a partnership between Jacksonville Today and The Tributary.
