Damon was initially charged with one charge of drunk driving and one charge of resisting a non-violent police officer, according to an arrest statement. Court documents show that he pleaded not guilty to the DUI charges, and the resistance charge was dropped.
According to the arrest statement, his breathalyzer test was at 0.30% two hours after the police first stopped him, almost four times the state’s 0.08% limit.
According to the statement, an officer said he stopped an SUV at about 1:23 am after seeing it wandering on the road and almost colliding with a guardrail.
The video shows the moment when the police officer approached the vehicle. When the door opens, the policeman can be heard saying to Damon several times, “close the door” as you approach your SUV. The video shows Damon’s wife, Michelle Mangan-Damon, getting out of the SUV and asking, “What’s going on now?”
According to the statement, the officer described Damon as “extremely unstable and his speech was extremely slurred”. The officer added that he smelled alcohol from Damon.
The policeman said Mangan-Damon continued to disobey his orders to remain in the car and, at one point, Damon placed himself back between the policeman and his wife, the statement says.
The officer said he then grabbed Damon and escorted him to the front of the police car, ordering him to say there, the deposition says.
The video shows Mangan-Damon walking towards the driver’s side of the SUV when the policeman grabbed her left wrist to stop her. Damon then stepped in and stepped between the officer and his wife.
In the video, the police officer can be heard saying “fighting one-two, actually” on his police radio.
The body camera fell to the floor, showing Damon and the officer. At one point, Damon can be heard saying a few times, “Life in blue is important,” a reference to his support for the police.
Two policemen managed to handcuff Damon and his wife, according to the video and the sworn statement.
“I know people are trying to hit me because I’m a Trump supporter,” said Damon later.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with it,” replies a police officer.
“Yes, it’s true,” said Damon.
“It is neither here nor there now; that is not why I am stopping you,” said the policeman.
Stuart Hyman, who is representing Damon and his wife, told CNN on Wednesday that the body camera video did not show some of the allegations made by the police, including the alleged driving pattern that led to the parade.
“If you watch the video, you will see that the driving pattern was not in the video that was being narrated and there was still a camera in the car that could have recorded this,” said Hyman.
Hyman added that the incident “is not a classic example of how a policeman should deal with this type of situation”, explaining that the policeman did not try to slow down the climb when Mangan-Damon was not complying, as well as when Damon tried to intervene .
Hyman told CNN that Mangan-Damon was not charged.
CNN contacted the Windermere Police Department to respond to the attorney’s statements.
CNN’s Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.