Prosecutors charge cop's son with punching homeless man

[Divine Discontent]

By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel

5:00 p.m. EST, January 24, 2011


SANFORD – Prosecutors today formally filed charges against a Sanford police officer's son who was questioned by police but released the night he was captured in a YouTube video, sucker punching a homeless man.

The case prompted Sanford's City Council to prematurely dismiss retiring Chief Brian Tooley. It also prompted the agency to launch an internal investigation into why the 21-year-old man, Brian Collison, wasn't arrested that night.

He was arrested a month later, a few days after news organizations aired video of Collison walking out of downtown Sanford ba and punching the homeless man from behind, sending him to the pavement. The video then shows Collison walking up the street and punching another man.

Prosecutors today charged Collison with felony battery and disorderly conduct, two charges that could send him to prison for five years.

<snip of long article of his violent history>
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-justin-collison-charged-20110124,0,4503684.story