TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has released body camera footage days after they raided the Tallahassee home of a former Florida Department of Health employee.
Authorities raided the Tallahassee home of Rebekah Jones, a former health department employee who said she was fired because, she claimed, she failed to manipulate COVID-19 data on the state’s dashboard, Monday morning.
Since the raid, Jones has told several media outlets that during the raid, agents had their guns drawn, and at times, had their guns drawn at her children.
“Don’t point that gun at my children,” Jones said to one of the agents. “He just pointed a gun at my children! He’s pointing a gun up the stairs! There are children up there!”
The footage released Thursday did not show agents pointing their weapons, but it is not the entire sequence of events. It is a snippet of the incident.
Security camera footage inside of Jones’ home, released earlier in the week, did not show the officers pointing their weapons at the children inside of the home.
Authorities said they searched Jones’ home as part of an investigation into unauthorized access into a state messaging system.
FDLE Commissioner Richard Swearingen said in a statement, “I am proud of the way these FDLE agents performed. I can only hope those same individuals who criticized these public safety heroes will now apologize and condemn the actions of Ms. Jones. The media should also demand Ms. Jones release the entirety of the video she recorded while agents were present in her home.”
Jones’ attorney released a statement that reads, “The FDLE appears to be in damage control mode, as it is highly unusual for the agency to release this kind of evidence … The video does not show all events that took place during the raid and does not contradict the aggressive actions which were clearly displayed on our client’s video capture.”
The commissioner added that any danger to Jones’ children came from her actions and not the actions of his agents.
Meanwhile, Jones has maintained that she has not tried to hack into any state messaging system.
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