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Deputies point guns in detaining wrong man
Body camera footage obtained by FOX 35 News sheds new light on our investigation into the wrongful detention of a man mistaken for a suspect in a domestic violence case.
ORANGE COUNTY - Body camera footage obtained by FOX 35 News sheds new light on our investigation into the wrongful detention of a man mistaken for a suspect in a domestic violence case.
In October, FOX 35 News introduced you to a man who claims he was wrongfully detained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has declined our request for an interview, so body camera footage is one way to see their perspective.
"Hands. Hands. Get down on the ground, get down on the ground," Orange County Sheriff’s deputies can be heard telling Demarquis Smith in the body camera video.
Smith told FOX 35 in October that when this first happened, he just saw people jump out of a car and point guns at him and didn’t realize who they were.
In the body camera video, at least one deputy does say, "Sheriff’s Office, get on the ground!" However, Smith said he didn’t hear that.
The man deputies meant to arrest was Shamell Shameek Sanchez. He was wanted for domestic violence and worked for the same company as Smith.
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In the body camera video, a deputy told Smith the man they were looking for had a "very slender build" and was his "exact height." Sanchez, according to his arrest report, is four inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Smith. He also has different facial hair and different tattoos.
When the deputies realized they had the wrong person, they let Smith go.
"That takes me back to, ‘I’m just a typical Black guy with a Black guy description," Smith told the deputies when they explained the description of the man they were looking for. "Skinny Black guy with a low boy or whatever the case may be.’ I’m him."
When the deputies uncuffed Smith, he told them in profane terms that he felt his detainment was messed up.
"That’s life, unfortunately," a deputy tells him.
"No, that’s not life!" Smith exclaims.
A deputy answers, "Unfortunately, in our business."
"Nah, man," Smith replies. "Get further details or investigate a little bit more."
Smith was at work when he was detained. He told the deputies and FOX 35 that the whole thing was embarrassing.
"You put me in handcuffs for no reason!" he told the deputies.
"We put you in handcuffs for your safety and our safety," one answered.
"I’m going to be out, and y’all are going to look really silly," Smith said as he was still handcuffed. "That’s why I’m so confident because I know, for sure, I didn’t do anything. My record is clean."
Smith has told FOX35 he’s still traumatized, and that he can’t get the image of guns pointing at him out of his head.
"It was kind of like excuses," Smith told FOX 35 back in October. "’It's life. Stuff like this happens all the time.’ And I'm just explaining to them like how I feel. I even, at a moment, had to walk away because I, like, broke down and cried."
On the body camera video, Smith tells the deputies that he’s still going to be messed up, even after the deputies go away.
"I’m going back to work while these people have seen me like this. I feel f***ed up. Y’all go back and do y’all jobs, you don’t care about nobody," Smith tells them, exasperated.
"I do care!" one deputy interrupts.
FOX 35 asked the Sheriff’s Office whether any of the deputies involved in this case are facing disciplinary action. The Sheriff’s Office replied, "The inquiry into the complaint is not yet complete."
When this happened in October, we reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office – they told us their felony unit "is tasked with tracking down the most violent at-large suspects in our community" and said, "It’s not uncommon for deputies to detain someone suspected of a crime or who has a warrant for their arrest while their identity is verified and charges are confirmed. That is for the safety of not only the deputies – but of the suspect, and the public."