A Melbourne, Florida, police officer resigned days after body camera footage showed officers forcing the wrong teenager to the ground during a search for a missing 16-year-old, leaving the 15-year-old with a serious arm injury.
WESH 2 News reporter Meghan Moriarty said Officer William Markle submitted his resignation after the station reported on his personnel record and his involvement in the June 24 detention of Cohen Everage.
The footage shows Cohen on his knees with his hands raised as officers threaten to use a Taser, move in, push him down, and place him in handcuffs.
Police soon realized he was not Armani Roman, the teenager they had been trying to locate.
Cohen repeatedly said he was not running and did not understand what was happening. No weapon was found on him, and records indicate his arm was swollen afterward, with emergency personnel believing his elbow may have been dislocated.
Police Were Searching for a Different Teen
Officers had been called to an apartment complex after 16-year-old Armani Roman left home.
According to police records, Armani’s mother told officers that he might run and asked that he be taken for an evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act.
Cohen had reportedly helped Armani’s mother search for him earlier in the evening.
Later, officers saw a teenager wearing a white shirt and backpack moving through the area and across Lake Washington Road. They believed that person was Armani and began issuing commands.
Body camera video played in Moriarty’s report shows officers repeatedly ordering Cohen to get on the ground.
“Get on the ground,” one officer says, before warning, “I will tase you.”
Cohen responds that he is walking and says he knows the missing teenager’s mother, but an officer tells him to be quiet.
The scene escalates quickly despite the teenager appearing to lower himself to his knees.
Video Appears to Conflict With the Written Report
The incident report stated that Cohen did not follow commands and resisted officers as they attempted to detain him.
Markle also wrote that he saw the teenager reach beneath his left hip toward the waistband of his blue sweatpants, causing officers to fear that he might be reaching for a weapon.
According to Markle’s account, Cohen ignored repeated instructions to lie flat on his stomach, and the officer pinned both of his elbows to the ground until the handcuffs could be secured.
The video shown by WESH, however, appears to show Cohen with his hands raised before officers get on top of him.
That difference is significant because the justification for force often depends on what a person was doing in the seconds immediately before officers acted.
A written statement may describe movements that are difficult to see from a single camera angle, but body camera footage is important precisely because it allows the public and investigators to compare official accounts with the recorded encounter.
No weapon was recovered from Cohen.
The footage also captures the moment the mistake becomes clear.
“You Armani?” an officer asks.
“No,” Cohen answers.
The officer responds, “You are Armani,” but the teenager again says he is not and tells them he does not know what is happening.
Teen Was Injured Before Officers Confirmed His Identity
Police records show officers reported having someone in custody at 7:56 p.m.
One minute later, the dispatch log was updated with the message: “THIS IS NOT ARMANI.”
The handcuffs were removed after officers confirmed Cohen was not the missing teenager.
By that time, however, he was already complaining that his arm hurt.
Police said his right elbow appeared swollen, and Fire Rescue personnel believed it may have been dislocated. Moriarty’s television report described the injury as a broken arm.
The department completed a use-of-force report, though the findings were not included in the records released to the news organizations.
The injury makes this more than a brief case of mistaken identity. Officers are sometimes forced to make rapid decisions with incomplete information, but the cost of a mistake becomes far more serious when a compliant or partially compliant person is injured before basic identification is confirmed.
Cohen was 15 years old, unarmed, and trying to explain that officers had the wrong person.
Records Listed Different Racial Descriptions
Police documents identified Armani as white and Hispanic, while Cohen was listed as Black.
The records did not establish what physical or racial description each officer had received before they began pursuing and detaining Cohen.
That missing information matters.
If officers had been given a clear description that did not match Cohen, the mistaken identification becomes more difficult to explain. If they had received only clothing details and a general location, the initial confusion may be more understandable, though it would not resolve questions about the level of force used.
A white shirt and backpack are broad identifiers, especially in a residential area where several teenagers could match them.
Before a detention turns physical, officers should confirm as many details as circumstances safely allow, particularly when the person is visibly young and is attempting to answer questions.
The footage does not appear to show officers pausing to ask Cohen’s name before forcing him fully onto the ground.
Markle Resigned 15 Days After the Incident
Markle submitted his resignation effective July 9, 15 days after the takedown.
In the letter obtained by WESH, he said he had carefully considered the decision and believed it was in his best interest to pursue new career opportunities.
The letter did not mention Cohen, the injury, the mistaken detention, or any internal review.
Moriarty reported that Markle had agreed to speak with her but later said he needed to consult with a union representative.
It remains unclear whether his resignation was connected directly to the incident, whether he was facing possible discipline, or whether he had already planned to leave the department.
Melbourne police confirmed his departure but said the case remained under investigation and declined further comment.
The other two officers involved were still working at the time of the report.
A resignation does not replace an investigation. If policy was violated, the public still deserves findings that explain what went wrong, whether the force was considered reasonable, and what changes will prevent the same mistake from happening again.
Officer Had Prior Violations in His File
Moriarty said WESH had previously reviewed the personnel files of Markle and two other officers involved in the encounter.
Markle’s record reportedly included two earlier violations.
One involved failing to activate his body camera and issuing an incorrect trespass order. The other concerned a domestic-related incident.
The day after WESH reported on those records, Markle submitted his formal resignation.
Prior disciplinary issues do not automatically prove misconduct in a later case, but they can become relevant when evaluating an officer’s judgment, compliance with policy, and response to previous correction.
His failure to turn on a camera in an earlier incident also highlights the importance of the footage available in Cohen’s case.
Without the recording, the public would largely be left with the officers’ written description that the teenager resisted and reached toward his waistband.
Questions Remain After the Resignation
Officers eventually located Armani and transported him for a mental health evaluation, but the successful end of that search does not erase what happened to Cohen.
Cohen’s mother directed reporters to an attorney, who had not publicly responded at the time of the report.
The department has not said whether any officer will face discipline, whether training procedures are being reviewed, or whether supervisors found problems with the identification or takedown.
Those answers are needed because mistaken identity alone does not explain every part of the encounter.
Police can reasonably detain someone they believe may be a missing juvenile, especially if there is concern for that person’s safety. But that authority does not remove the need to assess compliance, confirm identity, and use only the force necessary under the circumstances.
The footage appears to show a teenager on his knees with his hands raised before officers pile onto him.
Markle’s resignation may end his employment with the department, but it should not end the examination of how an unarmed 15-year-old who was helping search for another child became injured and handcuffed as the wrong person.
For Cohen and his family, the mistake lasted only minutes, but the consequences may remain much longer.
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
