“Officer Involved in Jamee Johnson’s Death Also Arrests LeKeian Woods”

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video attached to this story is from a previous, related story.

Jacksonville sheriff’s officer Josue Garriga, 34, was arrested on charges of sex crimes involving a minor Wednesday, according to a release from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. The JSO integrity unit assisted in bringing him in, and JSO says Garriga has resigned.

Garriga is the officer who fatally shot FAMU student Jamee Johnson. He was also involved in the brutal use-of-force arrest of Le’Keian Woods; both cases led to protests against police brutality in the city. 

Garriga was also one of several gang-unit officers exposed for taking part in a group chat full of offensive messages. In the messages, he called Johnson a “clown” and said he was only remembered because he was Black.

And he was one of the officers involved in a fatal police-involved shooting in Putnam County in 2015.

Now, he has been arrested on charges of unlawful activity with certain minors, lewd touching of certain minors, travelling to meet a minor for unlawful sexual activity, unlawful use of a two-way communication device to commit a felony, and transmission of harmful material to a minor. ‘Harmful material’ is defined in Florida statutes as content that depicts nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement.

CCSO says Garriga met the victim at church and suggested she download WhatsApp to talk to him. He then used the application to send her nude photos and asked her for photos of herself, according to the press release. Police found 305 interactions between Garriga and the victim on her cell phone. 

The victim told police she met Garriga at a Clay County business, not specified by police. Video of that encounter was captured both inside and outside of the business.

The victim also told police she had an “inappropriate physical interaction with Garriga” in his car. 

CCSO is still investigating Garriga. They ask if you have any information on these incidents or any other inappropriate interactions between Garriga and minors, call 904-264-6512. 

Garriga was booked into Clay County Jail. His bond is $375,000. 

Garriga shot and killed Jamee Johnson in 2019. Johnson was 22 years old at the time.

He pulled Johnson over for a seatbelt violation.

The State Attorney’s Office ruled Garriga was justified in shooting Johnson. Black Lives Matter activists, and activists against police brutality, disagreed, protesting in Jacksonville and the state’s capital. 

Jamee’s family sued Garriga and then-Sheriff Mike Williams, contesting Garriga’s story of what happened that day.

While Garriga argued Johnson was reaching for a weapon, his family argued bodycam footage showed no evidence of that. Their attorney said Johnson’s autopsy didn’t show the bullet trajectory matching Garriga’s story.

The body camera footage showed Johnson pleading for his life after Garriga shot him four times. 

In November 2023, before the suit could go to trial, the City of Jacksonville settled with Johnson’s family, paying out $200,000. Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said he would have rather taken the case before a jury and disagreed with this decision.

In late September 2023, a video of the brutal arrest of 23-year-old Le’Keian Woods went viral on social media. Woods’s family said the incident bore “a striking similarity” to the traffic stop where Johnson died — Woods was also stopped for a seatbelt violation.

A gruesome mugshot of Woods made rounds online, his eyes swollen shut when he was booked into Duval County Jail. When Woods was later transferred to another jail, with his eyes less swollen, his eyes were filled with blood.

Garriga was the one who called officers to the scene. He said he saw Woods engaged in suspicious behavior at a gas station before he got into his car, so he followed him. 

Garriga noticed the driver of the car was not wearing a seatbelt, giving officers license to pull Woods over. 

After the car was stopped for the alleged seatbelt violation, Woods fled from the traffic stop and was tased twice before falling to the ground. Police records say Woods strenuously resisted attempts by officers to handcuff him, and was struck at least 17 times, including punches and “unintentional knee strikes” to his face. Garriga was named as one of the officers involved in the brutal arrest, and can be seen in bodycam footage.

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said all of the officers were cleared. 

“There was force used by the arresting detectives, and yes, that force is ugly, but the reality is that all force, all violence is ugly,” he said, but qualified that ugly does not mean unlawful. 

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund condemned the arrest in a lengthy statement. Protestors gathered in front of City Hall for several days after the arrest.

Woods has been released on bail. He remains charged with resisting an officer without violence, tampering with evidence and possessing a controlled substance without a prescription. 

Garriga was a member of a group chat where seemingly-racist tweets and texts were exchanged by members of the JSO Gang Unit.

All of the officers in the chat were cleared in an internal investigation by JSO.

In the thread, which was started by Sgt. Doug Howell, officers discussed an NFL ceremony honoring Johnson. After several officers bemoaned the ceremony, Garriga wrote: “Goes to show no matter how wrong they are, they still will be recognized just because they are Black.”

A summary of the messages investigated by internal affairs can be found by clicking here.

READ MORE: JSO Gang Unit investigation into biased tweets, texts

In 2015, while working for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Garriga was one of four deputies who fired on Andrew Anthony Williams during a drug bust. 

Williams was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.