Sheriff offers job to man detained for fitting description of burglar

DELTONA, Fla. - The sheriff of Volusia County, Florida, offered a job to a Black man who was detained while jogging on Aug. 27 because he fit a burglary suspect’s description.

Joseph Griffin was jogging through his neighborhood in Deltona when he was detained by deputies, who said he fit the description of a man suspected of stealing a leaf blower from a nearby home, according to local media reports.

The actual burglary suspect -- described in media reports as a black man wearing a white tank top, flip-flops, and a black hat -- was later arrested, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said.

Chitwood said Griffin was going to share his perspective of the incident during implicit bias training with the sheriff’s office. He also said he would train and hire Griffin “in a second if he ever wants a new job.”

Griffin was previously an Army staff sergeant and now works as an assistant manager at a hospital and owns a credit-repair business, reports said.

Chitwood said he was “extremely proud” of the deputies involved.

This footage shows Griffin’s interaction with deputies on Aug. 27, as well as the arrest of the burglary suspect. Griffin also streamed the incident live on Facebook.