MELBOURNE -- The Brevard/Seminole State Attorney's Office has dropped all charges against Albert Flowers, a Melbourne man arrested in October on charges of assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest without violence.
Flowers was arrested by Melbourne police officers after a confrontation that hospitalized the 66-year-old, who is reported to have dementia.
In a dash-cam video, Melbourne police Officer Derek Middendorf is seen kicking Flowers in the stomach and punching him in the head and chest after Flowers falls to the ground. Another officer Tasered Flowers in the face.
According to the TV report, the officer's arrest report claims that "Flowers walked towards him in an aggressive manner" and that he "refused to stop at a safe distance."
Melbourne police reprimanded Middendorf, the department's officer of the year in 2008, for disabling his in-car recording device. Despite the camera being disabled, video was extracted from the hard drive.
Wayne Holmes, chief of staff for the Brevard State Attorney's Office, said that "although there is probable cause to support the legality of the arrest, a full review of the in-car video, the written reprimand by the Melbourne police of their officer's actions that prevented an audio recording, and the documented mental health history of the defendant would not support a successful prosecution."
Had all of this information been available to the intake attorney, the case would not have been filed, Holmes said.
The incident involving Flowers and Middendorf was reviewed in its full context last October, said Mike Moore, public information officer for the city of Melbourne.
Neither the department nor the city have received any formal complaint regarding it, he said.
"Due to the indication that this may evolve into litigation wherein the incident may yet again be reviewed by an appropriate authority, we will reserve further comment," Moore said.
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