The Sarasota Sheriff releases a statement regarding a video that shows a man being chased in the neighborhood

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – After a video circulated on social media showing an 18-year-old black male being chased through Sarasota's Skye Ranch neighborhood, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office released a statement regarding the incident .

According to a press release from SCSO, a video posted on social media filmed by Cornell Harris, 18, showed him being chased by Romulo Nobrega, Stephen Carega and Geffrey Gardner. At some point one of the men appeared to go back and get his car and a large wooden stick. They told investigators that Harris made inappropriate comments to women. SCSO says they canvassed the area and determined through review of footage that Harris did nothing wrong.

He also lives in the community.

The video shows the three men following him for a while, questioning him and confronting him. SCSO says multiple versions of the online video have been edited.

At some point during this incident, an off-duty Sarasota County Sheriff's Office sergeant living in the area was alerted to the event by his neighbor and responded to the scene appropriately in accordance with department policy. The sergeant correctly determined that Harris was leaving legally, informed him that he was free to go about his business, and instructed the others to stop following him.

Sheriff Kurt Hoffman praised the sergeant for his intervention: “I applaud this sergeant for immediately assessing the situation and recognizing that Mr. Harris should continue to be allowed to pass through the facility as a guest of his mother, who resides at Skye Ranch Neighborhood to go.”

No charges are being filed against anyone in the case.

Sheriff Hoffmann wrote: “As your sheriff, I understand the public interest this event has generated in our community over the past few weeks. I also understand the heightened emotions of everyone involved. As a law enforcement agency, our job is to set aside emotions, outside influences and social media commenters to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether a criminal violation of Florida law has occurred. It should be noted that in order to establish probable cause for a charge of assault, we must prove that there was an intentional unlawful threat by word or deed to use force, coupled with the apparent ability to do so, and that it created a reasonable fear of such another person that such violence is imminent. Investigators were unable to identify these three elements during their investigation. To date, we have spoken to all witnesses and participants who were willing to provide a statement. In addition, we reviewed all available videos, surveyed surrounding neighborhoods and determined that there was no evidence to believe a crime was committed. The investigation into this matter is now complete. This incident should serve as a reminder that when citizens find themselves in a confrontational situation, they should step back if possible and call on law enforcement to respond.”

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