Attorneys for homeless man left paralyzed say St. Petersburg police also injured another man

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Petersburg police confirmed a person in custody was injured while inside a transport van driven by a police officer, who was named in a federal civil rights complaint filed Monday.

Attorneys for Heriberto Sanchez-Mayen filed the 33-page complaint, which explains how the homeless man was left paralyzed and without legs following a ride in officer Michael Thacker’s transport van on June 8, 2023.

"During that ride, the officer deliberately stopped short, throwing Mr. Sanchez-Mayen into the bulkhead where he fractured and broke his neck," the family’s attorney, Thomas Scolaro, said.

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Court records show Sanchez-Mayen has been arrested several times, including a dozen times in 2023. Past charges include open container of alcohol and trespassing, which is why he was arrested on June 8 and put into Thacker’s transport vehicle.

"The officer that was driving that vehicle had done this before," Scolaro added, referring to Sanchez-Mayen’s injury.

On Tuesday, SPPD confirmed to FOX 13 that a person in custody "fell in a transport van operated by Officer Thacker and sustained a minor injury" in 2021.

Scolaro sent FOX 13 police documents that his office received from SPPD, which describe the June 2021 incident in detail.

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According to those documents, Thacker was driving Gary Crosby in his prisoner transport van when "he came across heavy traffic and had to suddenly apply his brakes."

As a result, "this caused Crosby to fall off his seat and onto the floor face first," the documents said.

Crosby was later diagnosed with an orbital floor fracture to his right eye.

"Did [Thacker] think this was going to be a different outcome? Right? I mean, gravity and momentum, are physical laws," Scolaro said at Monday’s press conference.

Records list Crosby as a transient who’s been arrested six times for trespassing since 2022. Other charges include open container and alcohol in a city park.

SPPD directed all of FOX 13’s questions to the city attorney’s office. We reached out to them and asked for a statement. 

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