Ocoee family filing lawsuit after man’s death

Jean Samuel Celestin’s family called 911 on the night of April 11, 2019, hoping to have a police officer remove him from their home on Calliope Street in Ocoee and have him involuntarily held at a mental health facility.

The disturbance call turned fatal when multiple responding officers shocked the 33-year-old mentally ill man with their Tasers, sending him into cardiac arrest and killing him. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation absolved the officers of any wrongdoing.

Sam Celestin’s survivors are now filing a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Ocoee, the town of Windermere, four Ocoee officers and one Windermere officer. They are calling on the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office to revisit its decision to not pursue criminal charges in this case.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigative report, the Ocoee and Windermere police departments requested FDLE conduct an investigation into the use of force by three Ocoee officers and one Windermere officer against Sam Celestin. FDLE did not release the officers’ names in the report.

“During the (response to the domestic disturbance call), Ocoee officers attempted to take Jean Samuel Celestin into custody and deployed their Tasers due to Celestin’s resistance and fleeing,” the report read. “Once Celestin was in custody, officers observed Celestin to be unresponsive and began to render aid.”

Sam Celestin was pronounced dead at Orlando Health – Health Central Hospital.

Details in the report state Sam Celestin had been diagnosed with bipolar with schizophrenia and anxiety and was not taking medication. He reportedly struck his mother and sister in their faces, and they called the police.

According to the report, when police arrived, Sam Celestin answered the door holding a remote control and kitchen knife and questioning the legitimacy of the officers. When he tried to get away, several officers chased him and took him down with their Tasers when he didn’t follow verbal demands. After a struggle to restrain him, officers noticed Sam Celestin was unresponsive and unsuccessfully tried to revive him.

Police body cameras captured the entire incident.

At the conclusion of the FDLE investigation, Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick sent a letter to Ocoee’s then-chief of police, Charles J. Brown, in November 2020 stating the use of force by the officers did not warrant the filing of criminal charges.

Sam Celestin’s mother, Rose Marie Celestin, and sister, Joanne Celestin, were part of a press conference held Friday, April 30, in Orlando with attorney Jeremy Markman, of King & Markman, P.A.

The civil suit alleges that Ocoee, Windermere, the OPD and WPD deprived Sam Celestin “of his constitutional rights when they physically restrained him to the point that he lost consciousness and died. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.”

According to a statement issued by the law firm: “The road-patrol officers dispatched to assist Mr. Celestin violated standard practices for interacting with people in distress, choosing instead to treat Mr. Celestin — who was expressing delusional thoughts — like a dangerous criminal suspect. The responding officers failed to engage a Crisis Intervention Team (‘CIT’) to help Mr. Celestin, even though such teams have existed in Ocoee for 20 twenty years.

“In addition, as the complaint alleges, Ocoee and Windermere permitted officers to engage in tactics likely to provoke a violent confrontation with Mr. Celestin, including: failing to adequately announce their presence and the purpose of their visit; treating Mr. Celestin as a criminal suspect instead of a mental health patient; responding to Mr. Celestin’s delusions and paranoia with confusing sarcasm; and failing to retreat and consider other tactics when it was clear that Mr. Celestin was mentally ill,” the complaint states.

“This is a death that should never have occurred,” said Andrew G. Celli Jr., who also is working with the Celestin family. “Samuel Celestin is no longer with us for one reason and one reason only: because police officers treated a sick person in need of help like a dangerous criminal who had just committed a violent felony.  This case reflects policing at its worst.  The failings that killed Samuel are systemic; they reflect inadequate training and the misuse of equipment; extremely poor tactical conduct by the officers—including intentional escalation of a conflict when de-escalation was called for; and an utter failure to assist a person in distress.  This case will expose all of that and more.”

“The Celestin family continues to mourn the loss of their beloved son and brother, Sam,” Markman said. “Although this lawsuit cannot bring Sam back, they are committed to seeking justice on his behalf and bringing a halt to the dangerous tactics employed by the OPD and WPD,” said Jeremy Markman, a lawyer with King & Markman, P.A., in Orlando, speaking for the family of Sam Celestin. 

“I just didn’t even imagine that this situation was going to lead to that,” Joanne Celestin said of her brother’s death. “It never crossed my mind.”

“That’s all the Celestins wanted to do that night was ask the law-enforcement (agency) for help for their son, for their brother,” Markman said. “What they got was … dehumanizing him, shooting him with Tasers multiple times, hog-tying him. From the get-go they escalated the situation and ultimately caused his death.”

Joanne Celestin said the family has felt trauma “at so much level that you can’t even imagine.”

The Ocoee Police Department did not respond to a call for comment; the Windermere Police Department does not comment on ongoing lawsuits.

“It’s been a long fight, but we’re going to continue to fight for (Sam) because he deserves that,” Joanne Celestin said.