WINTER HAVEN, Fla. —

A Polk County woman is threatening to sue the Winter Haven Police Department, claiming that officers “violated her civil rights” when they detained her and her boyfriend at an Avenue M. Northwest marketplace two weeks ago.

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Following an argument outside Santiago’s Market in Winter Haven, a store employee, 46-year-old Jesus Crespo Perez, pulled a knife on Banks’s boyfriend, 29-year-old Godfrey Hercules. In response, Hercules took out a gun.

According to Banks’s representatives, this gun was legally owned by Hercules, as permitted under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, which states that “a person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when ... that person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend [themself] against other’s imminent use of unlawful force.”

When police arrived at the scene, they not only detained Hercules, but also Banks and her three-year-old daughter, both of whom were forced to lay on the ground. A video of the incident went viral on X, garnering more than 7 million views at the time of publication. Both Crespo Perez and Hercules were charged with misdemeanor counts of affray, filed March 14. The maximum penalty for this charge is one year in prison and up to a $1,000 fine.

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According to Banks, her 3-year-old daughter, Symphony, is so traumatized from the incident that she “needs therapy.”

“We believe they committed assault when they did not have probable cause to point their firearm in the presence of a 3-year-old and unarmed mother,” said civil rights activist Carl Soto, Co-founder of Black Lives Matter Restoration Inc. and a representative of Banks’s case.

At a press conference held by Banks and Soto, the woman shared her list of demands for the Winter Haven Police Department, including the removal of the officers who pointed their guns at Banks and her child, and an investigation into both the incident and Winter Haven Police Chief Vance Moore by the Department of Justice. They also seek criminal charges held against Crespo Perez, the employee that instigated the argument with Hercules.

“I want the officers that were standing in front of my daughter holding that gun, I need them to have some kind of legal actions done,” Banks said at Wednesday’s press conference. “It was multiple police out there with their weapons pointed at us.”

At a Winter Haven Police Department news conference held March 6, Monroe praised the officers in the video, saying they had “acted appropriately.” The police chief, however, did not deny that the “optics [were] bad.”

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“We’re not going to skip around this,” he said. “The optics of this incident are bad; they are terrible. I truly wish this child was not exposed to this. Moving forward, we will be looking at ways and other avenues we can safely and effectively engage with our citizens in situations like this.”

Soto and Banks state they have requested to meet with Monroe on multiple occasions, but that the replies have been so “inadequate” that they plan to take their case to the courts.

“We’re going to ensure that there is accountability,” said Soto. “If Chief Vance Monroe cannot lead this department with transparency and be impartial, then he has to go.”

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