Cantonment Woman Charged With Punching Deputy In Face

November 11, 2016

A Cantonment woman has been charged with sucker punching an Escambia County Sheriff’s deputy.

Marissa Nicole Farrell, 28, was booked into the Escambia County Jail on felony charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence.

A deputy was dispatched to Tate School Road and Highway 95A to a report of a suspicious person walking in and out of traffic. The deputy located Farrell who said she was looking for the cap to a hydration pack that had been lost by her boyfriend.

As Farrell walked away, the deputy ordered her to stop and asked for identification. She told the deputy that she did not have to speak with him and continued walking away. The deputy ran up to Farrell and told her that he needed to see her identification. Farrell then suddenly hit the deputy on his forehead with a closed fist, knocking off his glasses, according to arrest report. Farrell was then taken to the ground and placed under arrest.

While attempting to handcuff Farrell, she reportedly tried several times to bite and kick the deputy. The deputy suffered minor injuries to his forehead and forearm.

Farrell remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $5,000.

Comments

33 Responses to “Cantonment Woman Charged With Punching Deputy In Face”

  1. 429SCJ on November 14th, 2016 9:41 am

    I just show them my ID before they even ask for it.

    Be courteous, go with the flow and do not be conspicuous/suspicious as appearance is everything when interacting with Law Enforcement.

    If it looks and quacks as a duck?

  2. Jcellops on November 14th, 2016 7:58 am

    TJ…proceeding on with your potential scenario.. not only would the officer be deemed the “bad guy”, the Sheriff’s office/county/tax payers would be on the legal and financial hook, had she gotten hurt (or, another bystander gotten injured) when the officer could have/should have intervened. You can rest assured that any lawyer would argue that the officer was negligent in preforming his duty to protect an individual who showed reasonable signs of compromised behavior.

  3. TJ on November 13th, 2016 5:54 pm

    Just another thought concerning detainment. Suppose the officer suspected she might be under the influence of something and thought she was in danger. If he does not detain her and she gets run over then he’s the bad guy for not protecting her.

  4. john on November 13th, 2016 7:56 am

    First Corinthians, 10:23 – All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

  5. HC on November 12th, 2016 8:13 pm

    As a society most of us want, among other things, to be protected from drugs, crime and other dangers to society. We have established law enforcement agencies and we want them to maintain order and enforce the law. Yet, some members of our society choose to oppose law enforcement officers (LEO), ridicule them, put them on trial and generally do all they can to make the LEO’s job even more difficult and dangerous. This creates a more dangerous world for the rest of us. Most of us are good people who obey the laws, and most of us are reasonably intelligent people. While we will not know ever letter of every law, we should at least know enough about our rights and the laws to make good and logical decisions.

    In the case of this particular story, none of us have all the details. The deputy, Miss Farrell and any witness each have their own perspective about what actually happened. The deputy had the duty to investigate the scene and the legal right to talk with Miss Farrell, ask her questions and ascertain the circumstances. Had she been polite, respectful and cooperative he may have assisted her and she’d be free to go. Instead, she chose to walk away and said she did not have to speak to him. That and Florida Law gave him the right to detain her for reasonable suspicion and to ask her identity. She is required to give him her name. She made a poor choice by being disrespectful and uncooperative and a bad decision by hitting him. The original intent of his being there went out the window immediately as he had to deal with that. I wonder what would have happened if she had been armed with a knife or gun?

  6. Virgie Krick on November 12th, 2016 8:09 pm

    She knew she had to obey leo shes on probation

  7. That Guy on November 12th, 2016 4:39 pm

    28 years old?! She looks about 40 something in that picture!

  8. Jim on November 12th, 2016 4:25 pm

    What we have here is a failure to communicate

  9. mike on November 12th, 2016 3:42 pm

    @molinojim:

    Unless it’s been repealed, Obama signed into law that you can be legally detained indefinitely, without being charged with anything. I can’t recall when, but it’s been a couple or 3 years ago at least.

    Also of interest to you possibly: civil forfeiture, will make you think twice about carrying cash while you are out & about. :)

  10. Citizen on November 12th, 2016 3:04 pm

    @ molinojim
    For the record I am no civil rights expert either.
    To answer your question, if it were me, I would wait around until I was dismissed and show my ID if he asked for it.
    I sympathize with the duty of LEO because, I believe he has to access the situation and make a determination as whether to arrest…someone or let them go,
    then allow the system to DETAIN . It is not up to the suspect to determine this time frame. Legally define Detain please.
    I believe a police office can arrest someone for suspicion and take them down for questioning.
    I believe yes, you are innocent until proven guilty in a COURT of law but not on the streets. To a LEO, everyone is probably a suspicious person.
    How one acts during that confrontation or whether they avoided it to begin with is up to that individual and from that they face the consequences of their decisions, up to during and after.

  11. Matchbox on November 12th, 2016 1:01 pm

    I agree with jim…know your rights…they are slowly being taken away and most people are unaware

  12. molinojim on November 12th, 2016 12:45 pm

    It’s good so many know this woman and feel she needs mental help. The report states she was “taken down”, this may be part of the reason she looks as she does. @Citizen–I’m not a civil rights expert—-but I understand the Bill of Rights. We have given up to many freedoms as it is. I ask you how long can you be detained legally by a LEO? Is our country going in the direction of many others where you can be detained or thrown into jail with no charges? If it had been you and after telling the reason for being there how long would you wait around?

  13. Pat on November 12th, 2016 12:26 pm

    So many comments of her not doing anything illegal. Isn’t wandering in and out of traffic against several laws?

  14. Pensacola pete on November 12th, 2016 11:25 am

    I love it! The recommended way to assert your Constitutional rights is to violently attack law enforcement! You guys crack me up.

  15. anne 1of2 on November 12th, 2016 10:21 am

    Who in their right mind punches anyone in the face? This woman has big problems with anger. She needs help.

  16. Willis on November 12th, 2016 8:20 am

    From what I see in the picture there was plenty of reasonable suspicion that she could be a danger to herself or others.

    Good job LEO !

  17. mike on November 12th, 2016 5:13 am

    She was on drugs, or a mental evaluation at Lakeview Center or some such place is surely in order. How we treat the mentally ill will grade us as a society.

  18. Sigh on November 11th, 2016 10:50 pm

    To the comments here, I believe the proper response is, “Excuse me Officer, am I free to go?”
    You have not lost any rights, just crying, I hear ya…

  19. Citizen on November 11th, 2016 10:35 pm

    I say to the commenters here that sound like wanna be civill rights experts, Tell it to a judge. Give me a break. Punching a police officer is a sure sign of a dummy.

  20. Consitutional rights disappearing on November 11th, 2016 6:31 pm

    I agree with Jim. What law did the deputy see her break? Did he see her walk in and out of traffic or was he taking the “word” of the 911 complainant who could have easily been a disgruntled friend or ex. Should she have punched the deputy? Of course not, but unless he witnessed her breaking the law and endangering her own life or the life of others, he might should have been a little less aggressive. Sadly, only the deputy’s side of the story is being told and believed.

  21. molinojim on November 11th, 2016 5:53 pm

    Ref. Terry V Ohio the detaining of a person has to be based on a “REASONABLE SUSPICION” the person may have been engaged in criminal activity. Some refer to Terry as “stop and frisk”. Terry is a seizure within the meaning of the 4th amendment and has caused cases to be lost in court due to illegal search and seizure. I’m some what surprised that so many who come on to NorthEscambia have not jumped on this. Ref. “consensual” she did appear to tell the LEO what her purpose was and talk with him. Do we really have to show ID if there is nothing to base an arrest upon? I guess we are becoming a “nation of sheep” if we have “to show our papers” to move around and to walk down the street.

  22. Rusty Shakleford on November 11th, 2016 5:00 pm

    Love the “straight jacket” look. It’s different. LEO is fully justified since vehicles belong in the street and not people.

  23. Pat on November 11th, 2016 3:59 pm

    just one word for this woman………MORON

  24. chris on November 11th, 2016 3:48 pm

    All her bravery appears to be lost in this photo.

  25. Jason on November 11th, 2016 3:07 pm

    This is her second arrest for battery since late-June of this year. She pleaded “No Contest” to the June arrest on 10/10/16 and received a sentenced of 29 days in jail and 12 months probation. Only a matter of times before her Violation of Probation warrant is served.

  26. lone chief on November 11th, 2016 2:55 pm

    Looking for a cap to a hydration pack….or a bag of crack? Just saying.

  27. No Excuses on November 11th, 2016 2:41 pm

    Had she complied, the Deputy may have even helped her look for the cap! No common sense or sense of decency anymore!

  28. molino jim on November 11th, 2016 11:52 am

    I understand she should not have hit the LEO— but I find myself asking if there was no violation except for walking into the roadway at the time of the first stop why did he want ID and then tried to detain her. She appeared to have answered his question as to why she was there and should have been free to go on about her business. If there was more to the reason for the officer detaining her it was not in the story. I have seen LEO over react when some one questions the reason for being stopped. I also fully understand the concept of time and circumstances but wonder if it was totally legal what he did. A question is do you have to produce ID and can you be detained as the facts in this report state?

  29. Bob C. on November 11th, 2016 11:45 am

    Ms. Farrell just managed to do a whole lot of poor decision making.
    Had to be something involved to have her acting so strange.
    Wondering what was going on.?

  30. jeeperman on November 11th, 2016 10:58 am

    What see did was 100% wrong and am glad the LEO was not seriously hurt.

    But….there is no law that says you must “present papers” (identification).

    When asked to identify yourself, you must identify yourself verbally or in writing, but you do not have to show identification.

  31. EMD on November 11th, 2016 10:58 am

    If this woman is locked up, it should be in a place where she can be clinically evaluated and receive help. She obviously has mental issues.

  32. Richard Harry on November 11th, 2016 9:33 am

    People should educate they selves with he difference in a “consensual stop” and a “terry stop” as i am sure law enforcement has . My bet is if she would have shown her Id and not been wanted for anything , he’d click his blue lights on and helped her find it.

  33. Mark Smith on November 11th, 2016 8:06 am

    Lessons learned…listen to LEO when they give you instructions and do not fight them.