Excessive force cited

By Shepard Ambellas

GROVELAND, Fla. (INTELLIHUB) — Two aggressive cops who responded to a residential false alarm forced an 11-year-old girl out of bed while she was watching T.V. and to the floor at gunpoint, using excessive force

“One of the officers was pushing me down. And when he was pushing me down he put his knee on me and the other officer had his gun pointed at me.”, said the unidentified 11-year-old girl.

This isn’t the first time the two cops, John Rigdon and James Festa, who were both involved in this incident, have found themselves in hot water as they have both been reprimanded by the department previously. In fact WFTV9 reports:

Festa was reprimanded in December for botching a child abuse investigation. He was also been suspended in 2013 for sleeping on the job.

Rigdon was suspended in May and demoted in 2013 from corporal. He was also reprimanded in 2011. Each punishment was the result of allegedly filing false police reports.

The girl’s father thinks that the cops should be “fired” for their actions.

The two officers are currently under investigation.

“Pointing a loaded weapon at somebody ain’t no joke”, said the Young Turks, news commentators, on an Internet news broadcast.

The girl’s father maintains his daughter was “traumatized” by the event.

About the author: