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Traffic stop inquiry ends in deputy's firing
By JAMIE JONES BROOKSVILLE -- A sheriff's deputy who gave a prominent local lawyer a black eye and a fractured rib during a traffic stop on Oct. 28 was fired Friday for using excessive force. Sheriff Richard Nugent fired Deputy Tony Mazza for acting improperly when he arrested Joseph E. Johnston Jr., the 79-year-old former School Board attorney and father of Brooksville Mayor Joe Johnston III. The firing came after a two-week investigation into the incident. "I was absolutely alarmed when I saw the pictures of Mr. Johnston," Nugent said, referring to photographs that showed Johnston's eye purple and swollen. "That is not the way my deputies should handle the elderly or anyone. I will not tolerate it." Mazza, a former corrections officer who was hired by the Sheriff's Office in March 2000, stopped Johnston on a Sunday morning while the deputy was directing traffic outside St. Anthony Catholic Church on Cortez Boulevard. Mazza was off duty and paid by the church. Mazza said that Johnston, who was driving a silver Mercedes, did not listen when commanded to stop, so Mazza pursued him and ultimately had to put him on the ground and arrest him. Johnston, witnesses and Nugent disagreed with the deputy's assessment of the incident. Johnston said he was driving home from Publix that morning when he approached a long string of cars by the church. He said he stopped. When all cars had left, he said, he went through the intersection. Down the road, he saw a deputy behind him and he was pulled over. Johnston said Mazza approached his car and told him to turn off the engine. When asked why, the deputy said, "Cause I said so," Johnston told the Sheriff's Office. Johnston said that after about 20 minutes, he opened his door and asked Mazza to please give him his ticket so he could go home. "He (Mazza) flew out of that car and that's when all hell broke loose," Johnston told authorities. He said Mazza handcuffed him, pushed him and made him fall, causing scrapes and bruises on his face, knee and arms. One witness told authorities she saw a deputy "pushing, pointing at an elderly man." Another witness told authorities that Mazza "pretty much picked (Johnston) up face to face and threw him on the ground." Mazza called paramedics to the scene and Johnston told one firefighter, "This guy's nuts." Johnston was taken to the jail, where he was charged with a traffic violation and resisting an officer. Mayor Johnston said he hoped the charges against his father would be dropped, but that remains up to the State Attorney's Office. Prosecutor Bill Catto said the charges will be reviewed next week. Mazza should not have left his traffic assignment to pursue Johnston, Nugent said. He fired Mazza shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, hours before the deputy's shift was scheduled to begin. The termination was effective immediately. Nugent said his decision had nothing to do with Johnston's prominence in the community. "It could have been Joe Blow, I don't care," he said. "You don't treat people that way."
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From today's Hernando Times |
