More On:
police officers
Another cop on duty during Capitol riot reportedly kills himself
Cops toss woman’s burnt body in dumpster after mistaking it for mannequin
Ex-high school football star charged in killing of Alabama cop
Murders, violent crime surged in Minnesota last year amid Floyd unrest, defund the police
Shocking video caught a “mob” of Florida cops repeatedly kicking a handcuffed man in the head — and then tackling and assaulting another who was filming the scrum, according to prosecutors.
Surveillance footage from Miami Beach late last month showed a lone officer initially stopping Dalonta Crudup, 24, at gunpoint in a hotel elevator after he allegedly struck a bicycle cop with a scooter.
After Crudup surrendered on the ground with his hands behind his back, a steady stream of 20 other officers stormed in and piled on him, prosecutors said Monday while announcing battery charges against five of the cops.
Officers then repeatedly kicked Crudup, while another picked him up and slammed his head on the ground, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.
Some of the “mob” then turned on Khalid Vaughn, 28, who was filming the arrest on his cellphone from about 12 feet away, Fernandez Rundle said while releasing four minutes of surveillance and bodycam footage.
Vaughn, wearing shorts and a T-shirt and carrying a plastic shopping bag, initially smiled as he backed away on officers’ orders — just for one to run in and tackle him against a concrete pillar, prosecutors said.
Bodycam footage showed officers then punching Vaughn after he was tackled to the ground, the state attorney said while slowing down key sections showing the hits.
“We’re all really horrified by it,” Fernandez Rundle said, according to NBC Miami.
“When we see this, it’s alarming, it’s disturbing, nobody wants this to happen, including police departments themselves.”
Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements had contacted the state attorney’s office after a senior officer alerted him to the footage, he said.
The five officers who were charged with first-degree misdemeanor battery had previously been suspended. They all turned themselves in Monday, and may face further charges later, Fernandez Rundle said.
All five are being represented by lawyers for the Fraternal Order of Police, whose local president, Paul Ozeata, told the Miami Herald, “They deserve their day in court, just as everyone else does.”
Crudup was charged with several counts, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer. The cop he allegedly struck was hospitalized and is on crutches, officials announced.
Crudup previously told Local 10 News that he was left with a black eye, bruised ribs and blood on his chin after the violent arrest.
“I got beat up, got stitches, went to the hospital,” he told the station, insisting he only fled the officers because he was scared they were “trying to put a black man in jail for no reason. I ain’t do nothing wrong.”
Charges against Vaughn of resisting an arrest with violence and impeding a police investigation were dropped after the videos were reviewed, Fernandez Rundle said.
“We felt what he [Vaughn] was doing, was within his rights,” she said, according to the Herald.
With Post wires
Share this article:
Source: Read Full Article
