Williams being held in Sarasota County Jail after Jan. 22 arrest
A 36-year-old Sarasota man has been charged with Aggravated Battery on a Pregnant Woman, Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer, Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer and Resisting Officer with Violence with Serious Injury following a Jan. 21 incident in the 2800 block of Goodrich Avenue and officers’ Jan. 22 efforts to arrest him, the Sarasota Police Department has reported.
Darryl Franklin Williams, of 2831 Goodrich Ave., was being held in the Sarasota County Jail following his Jan. 22 arrest, his Sheriff’s Office’s Corrections Division record shows. His total bond was $105,000, including $50,000 on the count related to his biting the officer.
Williams’ arraignment has been scheduled for March 10 on all the charged, the Corrections Division record notes.
The victim in the Jan. 21 case was five weeks pregnant at the time of the alleged battery, a Sarasota Police Department news release says.
“The victim told officers that Williams grabbed, pulled, and tossed her around at her home,” the news release explains. “Williams was gone when officers arrived,” it adds, so a warrant for aggravated battery of a pregnant woman was issued.
On Sunday, Jan. 22, the Probable Cause Affidavit says, Sarasota Police officers observed Williams entering the Express Grocery just before 2:30 p.m.; the affidavit adds that the store is located at 1415 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in Sarasota.
When officers tried to arrest Williams inside the store, he “attempted to flee,” the affidavit notes. A struggle ensued, resulting in Williams and the officers ending up in the parking lot in front of the store, the affidavit explains. Williams bit a female officer’s left hand and would not release it. A second officer attempted to pull the female officer’s hand away from him, the affidavit adds, but that officer was unable to do so “due to the depth of the bite.”
An officer then “struck Williams in the back of the head several times in an attempt to get him to release her hand from his month and, after some time, was successful,” the affidavit points out.
Finally, the officers were able to get handcuffs on Williams, the affidavit says. Then Williams “resisted being helped to his feet and being escorted to [an officer’s] vehicle. One officer “had to physically pick Williams up off the ground and load him into the vehicle, at which point he grabbed onto the frame of the vehicle,” the affidavit continues.
An officer commanded Williams to let go of the vehicle’s frame, the affidavit adds, as the officer attempted to remove Williams’ hand from it. Then Williams spit on that officer, prompting the officer to strike Williams in the chin.
The officer who was bitten was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she “received several stitches to close the skin that had been torn,” the affidavit says.
The Police Department released a copy of the video produced by an officer’s body-worn camera as the officers were attempting to take Williams into custody. Public Information Officer Genevieve Judge noted in the news release that the video may be disturbing to viewers, but it is available at https://youtu.be/x-4rk1fE-cs. “At the 9:23 minute mark, the video is frozen, and the injuries are highlighted,” the news release points out.
“This case remains an active and ongoing investigation,” the release adds. “Anyone with any information is asked to call the Sarasota Police Department Patrol Division at 941-263-6773.”
A criminal history
“Williams has a criminal history that dates back to 2003, with 24 felony charges (9 convictions) and 15 misdemeanor charges (11 convictions),” the release points out. Among the felony charges he has faced have been cocaine possession (2005), sexual battery/sexual fondling of a child (2007), and cocaine sale within 1,000 feet of a house (2011), the release says.
In a May 2007 case, 12th Judicial Circuit Court records show, the mother of the 14-year-old victim in the sexual battery incident told officers that she was at the Express Grocery on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way when Williams “came up to her and stated, ‘Hey, I’m the boy with your daughter.’ ”
The woman was talking with her sister on the phone at the time, the Probable Cause Affidavit says. The woman then reported to the officers that she “told her sister she would call her back and turned her attention to [Williams]” because she “wanted to be ready to have her hands free if something were to go down.”
Williams stated to her, “ ‘You better drop them charges,’ ” the woman continued, as related in the affidavit. The woman responded that she would not do so.
A friend of the mother told Williams to leave, the affidavit indicates.
When officers asked the mother whether she had felt fearful or threatened, she responded, “Yes.” She added that she “felt intimidated by [Williams], knowing in the past there have been other victims who have not gone through with charges, possibly because of intimidation,” the affidavit continues.
The officer who wrote the narrative added that he viewed store surveillance video of the incident, which showed that Williams approached the mother “and began yelling at her.” Therefore, the officer felt that Williams was intimidating her, the affidavit says.
The Probable Cause Affidavit in the August 2011 cocaine case explained that an undercover officer talked with Williams in the 2200 block of Janie Poe Drive in Sarasota. Williams was offering six pieces of rock cocaine to the undercover officer in exchange for cash, that affidavit says.
The officer purchased the cocaine for $40, the affidavit notes; the transaction “took place inside the Janie Poe Public Housing Development,” the affidavit adds.
Subsequent testing proved that the “rocks” did contain cocaine, the affidavit points out.
In that case, Williams ended up being sentenced in April 2012 to 40 months in jail, court records show. However, the sentence was reduced to time served, which was 174 days. Williams also was ordered to pay $40 in restitution to the Police Department.