A Florida Woman Wearing Only Underwear Fell Out of a Patrol Car When the Door Opened, Then Spat in the Deputy’s Face Twice Before He Slapped Her
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office calls it an “open-handed palm strike,” delivered to stop a handcuffed woman from spitting in a deputy’s face a third time.
Deputies were called to a Texaco on Ponce De Leon Boulevard in Brooksville on June 9 after reports of a woman yelling at customers and disrupting the business. Employees asked that she be trespassed, so she left for a mobile home park on West Jefferson Street, where she allegedly kept yelling at residents. A mother with young kids asked that she be removed too.
The woman, identified as Iesha Field, stripped down to her underwear. Investigators say she appeared to be under the influence and had visible injuries to her right knee and left eye. Deputies tried to de-escalate and encouraged her to go home before things escalated and she was taken into custody.
The arrest didn’t go smoothly. Field allegedly resisted, tried to hit and kick deputies, then banged her head against the patrol car window. When deputies opened the door to deal with her, she fell out.
Deputy M. LaPalme helped her back in. She spat on the left side of his face. While he buckled her into the seat, she spat again, and that’s when he hit her.
Field was charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer and breach of the peace / disorderly intoxication, and held on a $3,000 bond. LaPalme’s actions are under review, which doesn’t mean wrongdoing was found.
Some viewers said the deputy showed remarkable patience after being spit on twice. Others said a trained officer should be held to a higher standard with someone handcuffed and impaired. A few just compared the whole scene to The Exorcist.
