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”
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
She knew she had to obey leo shes on probation
28 years old?! She looks about 40 something in that picture!
What we have here is a failure to communicate
@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.
@ 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.
I agree with jim…know your rights…they are slowly being taken away and most people are unaware
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?
So many comments of her not doing anything illegal. Isn’t wandering in and out of traffic against several laws?
I love it! The recommended way to assert your Constitutional rights is to violently attack law enforcement! You guys crack me up.
Who in their right mind punches anyone in the face? This woman has big problems with anger. She needs help.
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 !
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
Love the “straight jacket” look. It’s different. LEO is fully justified since vehicles belong in the street and not people.
just one word for this woman………MORON
All her bravery appears to be lost in this photo.
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.
Looking for a cap to a hydration pack….or a bag of crack? Just saying.
Had she complied, the Deputy may have even helped her look for the cap! No common sense or sense of decency anymore!
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?
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.?
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.
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.
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.
Lessons learned…listen to LEO when they give you instructions and do not fight them.