ACSO Deputy Clint Ferguson pictured in Jauary 2016 with his former police dog Vader.
A deputy with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Friday and placed on paid administrative suspension after police said he physically abused a mentally disabled 11-year-old boy.
The deputy, 41-year-old Clinton Carman Ferguson, is accused of hitting the boy Sunday evening and inflicting several bruises and red marks on his back and arms, according to a Gainesville Police report.
The boy — who has cognitive delay, chromosome abnormality, seizures disorder, peripheral neuropathy and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — told his mother someone had kicked and hit him, although the person’s name was redacted from the report.
The police were called after the boy’s mother found the bruises on his back, according to the report.
The boy’s brother, who is 4 years old, told police Ferguson hit the boy with a spatula several times on his back after the boy did not listen to something Ferguson told him.
Ferguson was arrested on a charge of child abuse.
After his arrest, Ferguson denied hitting the boy, stating the wounds could have come from when Ferguson forcefully removed the boy from his car, according to the report.
Ferguson is suspended pending the conclusion of an internal investigation, said Lt. Brandon Kutner, a spokesperson with the sheriff’s office, where Ferguson has been employed since 1999.
Kutner said Ferguson works as a school resource deputy at Gainesville’s Fort Clarke Middle School, located on Northwest 23rd Avenue.
He used to work in the K-9 unit and in Patrol Operations, Kutner said.
In 2014, Ferguson’s ex-wife filed a petition for injunction against him for protection from domestic abuse, although that case was eventually closed, according to Alachua County Court records.
Authorities took Ferguson to the Alachua County Jail, where he was released Saturday on his own recognizance.
mkornfield@alligator.org
@merylkornfield
