Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced today that the department has arrested and fired a sergeant accused of pointing his gun at an individual’s head and verbally threatening him.
The announcement of Sgt. Janak Amin’s termination came during a press conference from Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, held today. The incident, which happened Thursday morning at the intersection of N. Nebraska Avenue and E. Annie Street, began when a man was wrongly transported from an HCSO detention facility to DACCO Behavioral Health Center.
Deputies later realized the mistake and found the man behind a trailer, where they tried to confirm his identity. The man refused to give deputies his name. This is when, Sheriff Chronister said, Amin threatened the victim.
“He was not armed and made no aggressive actions toward our deputies,” Chronister said during the press conference. “Sergeant Amin, who was kneeling next to the victim, pointed his firearm at the victim’s head and threatened his life simply because he refused to identify himself.”
With the exception of the victim, all witnesses were law enforcement personnel, according to Chronister and a HCSO press release.
According to Chronister, Amin is a 21-year veteran of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and has no prior history of excessive uses of force. He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, Chronister said.
In 2014, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office named Amin “Deputy of the Year.”
When asked whether race played a role in the incident between the sergeant and the victim, who is Black, Chronister responded, “Absolutely not.”
“I don’t believe for a second this had anything to do with race.”
Chronister said the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has a longstanding “Duty to Intervene” policy requiring personnel to step in when they witness violations of the department’s policies and professional standards. All personnel were recently required to watch a training video meant to reemphasize this policy.
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This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2020.