Acting Sanford police chief Capt. Jerry Hargrett said late Wednesday afternoon that his officers made "blatant" policy violations that night, including not handcuffing Collison or patting him down.
But Hargrett did not fault officers for opting not to arrest Collison. He said he was not sure why the officers made no arrest but said there is no evidence that Collison was given preferential treatment.
Still, Hargrett said that his agency on Wednesday began an internal investigation into the conduct of four officers that night, one a sergeant.
Lt. Collison was not on duty that night and is not a subject of the inquiry.
"We are appalled by it. It's socking," Hargrett said of the video. "It's very disturbing."
Earlier in the day, Sanford police Capt. David Del Rosso said Collison hadn't been charged because the man who was punched, Sherman Ware, hadn't sworn out a formal complaint and couldn't be found to make one.
Mid-afternoon the department issued a news release, asking anyone with information on how to find Ware to come forward.
That apparently worked. Police interviewed Ware Wednesday afternoon. Hargrett would not say what the homeless man said, but added, "Oh, yes, he does feel like he was a victim."
Collison could not be reached for comment by the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday.
He told police that night that he was at the Wet Spot, a bar on Sanford's Park Avenue, when he was jumped by a white man inside and moments later was hit in the head. Collison said he then stepped outside and punched someone, according to a police report.
That someone was Ware, who is black, had not been inside the bar and had not hit anyone, Hargrett said. The video shows Ware trying to break up a fight on the sidewalk when Collison walks up behind him, draws back his arm and unloads an uppercut to the back of Ware's head.
Hargrett called it a sucker punch.
It caused Ware to pitch forward, hit his head against a nearby light pole and go to the ground. He was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital with a broken nose.
Officer Samuel McNeil wrote in his report that he did not arrest the lieutenant's son because Ware gave no sworn written statement and that Collison and his friend, Eric Lassady, who was also involved in the bar fight, gave conflicting accounts.
A few days after the fight, police asked the State Attorney's Office in Sanford to review the case and decide whether to file an aggravated battery charge against the lieutenant's son. It had taken no action as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Hargrett said late Wednesday afternoon that prosecutors were reviewing Ware's statement.
