A cop was arrested. Six months later, the case was dropped. What happened? - Tampa Bay Times

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TAMPA — How could a respected cop be accused of threatening to shoot a detained man, only for prosecutors to conclude he committed no crime?

In the case of former Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Sgt. Janak Amin, a defense attorney’s probe suggests a rushed and flawed investigation, one that may have been influenced by politics.

Although three of Amin’s fellow sheriff’s deputies claimed he threatened a man deputies were trying to restrain during a July 9 arrest, at least seven others said they never saw or heard the sergeant do anything wrong, according to the attorney’s summary of the case. Use-of-force experts likewise opined that the sergeant’s actions were consistent with standard law enforcement practices.

The agency fired and arrested Amin on July 10. Sheriff Chad Chronister held a news conference the same day at which he called Amin’s actions “despicable.”

At the time, Chronister was in the midst of a reelection campaign, battling both a Republican primary opponent and two general election challengers. He went on to win both races by sizable margins.

The incident also occurred weeks after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, which spurred nationwide protests and calls for greater police accountability.

“I believe that Sheriff Chronister at this time, now two or three months before the general election, made this arrest solely for political purposes,” attorney Paul Sisco said. “I can’t come up with any reasonable explanation other than the publicity was more important to him than getting it right.”

Chronister, in a statement, denied that the firing was political.

“The decision to terminate Mr. Amin was not a political one,” the sheriff said. “He violated our standard operating procedures, and his actions left us no choice but to terminate his employment.”

The story of what occurred is recounted in a sheriff’s report, public records and in a lengthy letter and related exhibits that Sisco gave to the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.

It started with a mistake.

On July 8, a judge sentenced Carl Elkins to a year in the county jail after a drug-related conviction. But somehow, Elkins was taken instead to a drug treatment facility, where he was allowed to leave.

The error was soon discovered. A warrant was issued.

Elkins had a number of prior arrests that included charges for drugs and robbery.

In a text message, a sheriff’s colonel directed that Amin’s squad be sent to find him, writing that it was “a top priority to lock him back up before he commits more crime,” according to Sisco’s letter.

The squad set up surveillance on places Elkins was known to visit. After several hours, in the early morning of July 9, they learned that he was near the intersection of N Nebraska Avenue and E Annie Street in Tampa.

Undercover cars rolled into the area about 4 a.m. A Hillsborough sheriff’s helicopter began to circle.

Elkins ducked into a grassy lot. Deputies moved in.

Flashlight beams guided them to an enclosed area behind a vacant semitrailer.

Three deputies wrestled Elkins to the ground and moved to restrain his arms and legs. Amin knelt close by, his gun drawn, the lawyer said.

Three deputies — Detectives Stephen Eckert and Brenton LeDonne and Cpl. LaDarian Rudolph — would later say that they saw Sgt. Amin point his gun at Elkins’ forehead and threaten to shoot him if he did not tell them his name, according to an arrest report. Later, as Elkins was walked out of the grassy lot, the same three deputies said that they heard Amin tell him he would be “taken to the woods,” if he refused to tell them his name.

Sheriff Chronister would later say that Elkins was unarmed and made no aggressive moves.

But the three deputies who physically restrained Elkins said he was shouting and resisting their efforts to arrest him, according to Sisco’s letter. At one point, he had his hands underneath his body as he lay on the ground, something deputies fear because it could mean a person is hiding a weapon.

A number of deputies said they heard Amin yell for Elkins to “stop resisting” and other commands to “show me your hands,” according to the letter.

Some deputies heard various versions of the phrase “tell me your f--king name,” Sisco said.

In a standard review of the incident, known as an “after action,” immediately after the arrest, none of the deputies voiced any concerns about how it went down, Sisco said.

Investigators pulled a recording of a phone call that Elkins made to a girlfriend from jail. In the call, Elkins said that a deputy “put his gun on my eye” and threatened to shoot if he didn’t give his name, according to an arrest report.

But none of the deputies referenced in the letter said Amin touched Elkins with a weapon. It is unclear if Elkins may have been referring to Amin pointing the weapon at him as he was being arrested.

All the deputies had their guns drawn, except for the three who took Elkins into custody, Sisco said.

“Nobody puts the gun anywhere close to Elkins’ person other than Elkins himself,” Sisco said.

Nevertheless, Amin was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, a crime that carries a minimum mandatory 10-year prison sentence.

As he took questions after delivering his prepared remarks, Chronister said Amin’s fellow deputies claimed the sergeant said that if Elkins didn’t provide his name “he was going to splatter his brains all over the concrete.”

“He said those words?” a reporter asked.

“He said those words,” the sheriff confirmed.

But those words, if they were said, do not appear in an official report on the investigation.

In the weeks after his arrest, Amin underwent a polygraph examination. He was asked if he followed his training and experience in arresting Elkins, if he ever placed a gun against Elkins’ head, and if he committed an aggravated assault while Elkins was under control. His answers: yes, no and no. The exam results showed no sign of deception, according to a summary provided by the lawyer.

Formal charges were never filed. On Jan. 22, Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren wrote in a letter to Chronister that evidence was insufficient to prove Amin committed a crime. The evidence showed that Elkins was not handcuffed and was “actively resisting” efforts to arrest him.

“Threatening a noncompliant and potentially dangerous suspect to make him obey commands and submit to a lawful arrest is allowed under Florida law,” Warren wrote.

Addressing the “taken to the woods” comment, Warren wrote that, while inappropriate, the words did not constitute a crime, as Elkins, in a recorded statement, said he did not take it as a serious threat.

Not everyone buys it, though. Brett Metcalf, an attorney representing Elkins, said he learned of the state’s decision not to prosecute from the evening news.

“The statement provided by the State Attorney describes a well-evolved version of the facts, divorced from both reality and the representations made during Sheriff Chronister’s July 9 press conference,” Metcalf said in a statement. “While we are unclear whose story changed and how, we look forward to finding those answers and seeking some semblance of justice through the civil process.”

Amin plans to pursue his own recourse. His attorney has demanded that the sheriff retract the statements he made at the news conference. He has said his client intends to sue his former employer.

Amin had an exemplary career at the Sheriff’s Office, the sheriff said in the news conference.

He had no significant prior disciplinary issues. In 2007, Amin and another deputy shot a man who was said to have pointed a shotgun at them during a standoff. The shooting was deemed justified.

Amin served six years in the Army. He had 21 years as a sheriff’s deputy. He’s a family man, who coaches Little League. An Indian-American, he was once named Deputy of the Year by the Sheriff’s Indian-American Advisory Council.

Amin considered Chronister a friend, Sisco said.

“He’s a highly respected guy,” he said.

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