Updated, Aug. 10, 2018: Traffic citations issued in June against an 18-year-old Alachua County driver — ticketed by the sheriff' s office in a case that went viral — have been dismissed.
Judge Walter Green dismissed the traffic infractions and the $449 in fines and court costs associated with them. Keyon Young had been stopped after a deputy said he was speeding through a school zone near Hidden Oak Elementary. Video showed him not complying with deputies' orders to exit the car, and they had to forcibly remove him.
His mother arrived at the scene and said deputies used too much force, but the sheriff's office said the deputies violated no protocols.
Original story, June 21: The Gainesville teen removed from his car by Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies last week is getting a chance to negotiate — and possibly drop — one of the charges against him.
Keyon Young, 18, was charged with driving without a valid driver’s license after being stopped for speeding. As for the speeding ticket, Young said Thursday after an arraignment for the charge that he agrees he was speeding.
County Court Judge Walter M. Green may drop the charge against Young if he can prove he has a valid Georgia license during his next court date on July 5.
Deputy Thomas Thueson ordered Young to pull over on June 13 when he saw him speeding through a school zone on Fort Clarke Boulevard. Thueson asked Young to step out of his car and back to the deputy's vehicle, but when Young refused, Thueson had to call for backup. Young was then pulled out of his vehicle while another deputy pointed a Taser at him. The sheriff's office posted dashcam video of the traffic stop to its Facebook page later that night, following Young and his mother's public comments during a meeting of Alachua County and Gainesville's elected leaders.