Posted by Deborah Lee Jarrett.
“An officer who was involved in the violent arrest at Honeymoon Island of a man who later died was fired last month from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Joseph Tactuk lost his job as an FWC officer after a Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office investigation concluded that he used poor judgment March 17 when he tried to arrest James Barnes.
Barnes, 37, died at the hospital two days after he struggled with Tactuk on the beach at Honeymoon Island State Recreation Area.
“While I have found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the officer, I do believe Officer Tactuk exercised poor judgement,” wrote State Attorney Bernie McCabe in a letter to the FWC’s inspector general’s office.
Based on McCabe’s findings, FWC officials fired Tactuk.
Though he was an officer with the Department of Environmental Protection at the time of the incident, Tactuk became an FWC officer in July when the agencies merged their law enforcement divisions.
The March incident began when Tactuk noticed Barnes flailing and shouting profanities at the water’s edge, where Barnes’ aunt, Paula Yount, was trying to coax him to shore.
Yount had dunked Barnes under the water during a baptismal cleansing ritual, authorities said. When she asked him to come out of the water, Barnes shoved her, saying he wanted to be dunked more. That’s when Tactuk came to make the arrest.
The two men began to struggle. The officer dragged Barnes out of the water by his head. Barnes continued to writhe and scream as Tactuk handcuffed him haphazardly with his hands over his head, authorities said.
At some point, Tactuk sat on Barnes, officials said.
Moments later, Pinellas County sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Kubler arrived and ordered Barnes to stop fighting or he would be shocked with a Taser. Barnes continued to buck and kick his legs, sheriff’s officials said, so Kubler shocked him three times.
Barnes went unconscious and stopped breathing. He was taken to Bayfront Medical Center, where he died two days later.”
From Dan Sullivan Tampa bay times. Whole story here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/fish-and-wildlife-officer-fired-after-investigation-of-violent-honeymoon/1246097
This is dedicated to Deputy Elrod of the Pinellas County Sheriffs office who on July 5th 2014 threatened to tase me off a chair I was sitting on while handcuffed wearing a swim suit and ( not under arrest ) . then later laughed with the FWC ” I should have tased her while I had the chance”. The only reason he didn’t was because I starting telling people he was threatening me with violence because I dared to ask for my Mirranda to be read to me before I answered any questions. Elrod is also a filthy liar in court along with Martinez Rivera and Tsongranis. They all openly committed perjury in court with the approval of Judge Horrox .
Deborah Lee Jarrett 
Judge Horrox seems to have a habit of doing this. I have court transcripts from a hearing where he accepted “sinking sand” to explain why a traffic sign was 2′ too short over the space of less than one year. Seriously. He puts his personal opinion of guilty above the law. Although receiving a memo from the DMV telling all judges not to find motorists guilty of failure to show proof of insurance unless the driver and owner are one and the same . . . guess what? Yup. Like I said, he has his own personal opinions that have nothing to do with following the law. And he gets away with it . . . so why shouldn’t he be of the opinion that he can do whatever he darn well pleases no matter what outlandish statements he “accepts” as fact. The truth is, citizens need to push the JQC to be more transparent so we know when complaints are made against judges. AND strengthen their standards when judges violated the Ethics Cannons. They did a major overhaul after Bonnie Newton (yet another Pinellas judge from hell). They need to do it again . . . the things some of our judges do are cause for removal from the bench IF and only IF the JQC will actually take these things seriously.
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I’m sorry it has taken me so long to respond. My son was killed in an auto accident and a lot of the life has been kicked out of me this year. I am coming around as expected and am dedicating my time back to righting the wrongs done by these public servants. I will be filing a complaint on Horrox it is arduous at best but it will be worth my time. There is a site you can utilize to make a comment on ole Horrox. Just put his name in and go to the robe or something like that . He is getting a fan club.
Good luck,
Deborah Lee Jarrett
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Speaking of outlandish….I was found guilty of the charge of resisting obstructing w/o violence. Judge Horrox allowed the arresting officer to give a victims impact statement even though the judge admitted that the state was the only victim. During the “Victims” impact statement the officer introduced into evidence something that my husband had written on his web site. The judge said that he could not let it influence his judgment in sentencing……And then quoted from it when he sentenced me to 30 days for a first offense. It really was a kangaroo court. Almost a year after the event they changed the charge and they changed the arresting officer. The original charge was an FWC statute , a second degree misdemeanor, and the arrest report simply stated “She obstructed the search of the vehicle” (It was not even my vehicle) The charge was changed to a Florida statute which was a first degree misdemeanor and the new arresting officer gave testimony that directly contradicted his original testimony. Horrox allowed hearsay to be introduced, a gun that was owned by the owner of the truck and numerous other very unprofessional things. All he had to say at objection was “Take it up at appeal” I personally think that the man is mentally unbalanced. He repeatedly made disparaging and unprofessional remarks before and all during the trial in open court.
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