ORLANDO, Fla – A pair of Orange County deputies are clear of any wrongdoing for a traffic stop where a woman’s car window was broken prior to her arrest.
The arrest prompted a review by the sheriff’s office professional standards section, although it wasn’t a use of force review.
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The traffic stop happened on June 3, 2020, during a protest following the death of George Floyd. The protest was happening along Curry Ford Road. Deputies monitored the protest throughout the day and the report notes it remained peaceful and “generally law-abiding.”
Deputies said a car was making several stops along the road and the driver, Khadija Bezzaz, was talking with the protesters.
Bezzaz was blocking the right lane of traffic and the bike lane with her car, records show, and protesters had started to walk into the two-lane road with at least one of them standing by the driver’s side window. Investigators said this was beginning to back up traffic.
According to the administrative inquiry report, a request was made over the radio by an OCSO supervisor for one of the deputies monitoring the protest to speak with Bezzaz and get her to move her car out of the road.
Deputy Christopher Moore was the first to arrive, followed closely by Deputy Michael Fuller, according to the inquiry report. Both deputies activated their emergency lights and started a traffic stop, records show.
Deputies said the 21-year-old went down the road and pulled into a business’s parking lot, rolled up her driver’s side window and then lowered it again a couple of inches to communicate with Moore.
The inquiry shows a diagram of the scene.
Body camera footage released by the sheriff’s office is cited in the inquiry. It shows Moore ordering Bezzaz out of her car. Bezzaz asked why and begins recording the exchange on her phone. Moore states that she is being detained for a traffic violation.
“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you. I’m going to ask you to step out of the car or we are going to remove you from the car,” Moore said.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything to be detained for,” Bezzaz responded.
According to the inquiry, Moore then reached into the open window and tried to unlock the driver’s said door. When he did that, Bezzaz began rolling up her window with Moore’s arm still inside, according to Moore. The inquiry said Bezzaz’s own cellphone video and statements she made at the scene backed up Moore’s claim.
Moore then got his retractable baton and shattered the driver’s side window, while Fuller similarly attempted to break the passenger’s side window, according to records. Both deputies could be seen in the body camera video removing Bezzaz from her car and cuffing her before placing her in the back of a cruiser.
According to the inquiry, Bezzaz was cut during the arrest and requested medical attention, which Moore called for her.
The inquiry includes summaries of 47 body camera videos from several deputies who responded to the traffic stop, many of them dealing with protesters who were observing the scene.
The inquiry states that all of the deputy reports associated with the traffic stop and arrest were consistent with the accounts observed in the body camera footage.
Records show Deputy Mondezy Lindor supplied a supplemental report where he described an interaction with Bezzaz as she was being treated at the hospital. In the report, Lindor explained to Bezzaz that, “Once you are detained, you must abide by the officer’s request; it is a lawful command.”
Bezzaz stated that she did not know that and, “She then apologized for how the events transpired at the traffic stop due to her lack of knowledge,” according to the supplemental report.
Bezzaz declined to give a statement for the inquiry, records show.
The inquiry also included interviews with 23 deputies who were present during the protest to the arrest. Many did not observe the actual arrest and were involved in crowd control with the protesters who were observing the scene.
The inquiry ultimately cites a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which states, “Once a motor vehicle has been lawfully detained for a traffic violation, law enforcement officers may order the driver of the vehicle to vacate the vehicle, and this does not constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable search and seizures.”
It also cites a sheriff’s office legal bulletin which states, “A law enforcement officer who lawfully stops a car for a traffic infraction may order the driver and passengers to remain in, or exit, the vehicle.”
Ultimately, Moore and Fuller’s actions were found to be within department policy. However, it does add that Moore could have used additional verbal communication with Bezzaz to avoid the appearance of recklessness, especially with protesters nearby.
Bezzaz was arrested on charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence; however, the state attorney’s office ultimately declined to prosecute the case.
Michael Barber, the attorney representing Bezzaz, declined to provide a comment on the findings.