Miami-based documentary filmmaker Billy Corben posted airport surveillance video on Wednesday showing a police officer at Miami International Airport striking a woman.
It appears to be body cam footage from another officer. Reportedly the woman may have missed a flight, or had a significant flight delay, and was upset. An airline employee called police.
The woman yelled at the officer, just before he hit her, “You black, you acting like you’re white but you’re really black. What’re you gonna do?” The officer, Antonio Rodriguez, “snaps and punches the woman in the face. He then throws his hands on her and brings her to the ground as officers in the background shout ‘Woah, woah’.” He then claims “she headbutted me” though the video doesn’t appear to support that.
#BREAKING: @MiamiDadePD cop hits woman at Miami International Airport @iflymia #BecauseMiami pic.twitter.com/KnAVipZKtb
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 2, 2020
Miami Dade’s police Director has suspended the officer and “initiated an investigation” which has been escalated to the State’s Attorney – however she’s an official who has never charged an officer for an on duty fatal shooting in 27 years, so good luck with that.
I am shocked and angered by a body cam video that i just saw involving one of our officers. I’ve immediately initiated an investigation and ordered that the involved officers be relieved of duty. Actions such as these undermine the hard work that we have invested in (1 of 3)…
— Alfredo "Freddy" Ramirez III (@MDPD_Director) July 2, 2020
The police union President claims, “Clearly she was the aggressor. She was being asked to leave. She’s being belligerent and she pushes her face right into his face.” (As they say ‘she came at him, attacking his fist with her face.’)
Just watched the video twice. Hmmm. I think that lady committed an “assault”. She went after him, real close. He had already stepped back. His voice was mellow. She upped the aggression within seconds. She walked within a couple inches and “watch-you gonna do”, loud in his face. Anyone who has grown up in the city — that is a fight starting.
Could he have de-escalated? Maybe. But not sure what would have happened had he stepped back. Given that she walked over unbidden, probably she would have been right on him, and so forth..
Any prosecutors reading this today? She assaulted him, right?
Any experts in police procedure and training view this? Is it safe and correct for the officer to step back at that point? Since he had a colleague there, was the other guy supposed to grab her while she was an inch from the principal officer? Is it good procedure, when you have a gun at your side, to let an aggressive person get to within inches of your weapon?
So what is the history of these sorts of filmed incidents? Does this officer get discipline, for (a) letting her get too close, or (b) not defusing? Do officers tend to get disciplined for slugging aggressors?.
So, alternative history: Let’s put ourselves, as traveling civilians, within feet of these people: Would any of us have interposed ourselves? Or, what if no police there, and she did precisely the same with, say, a service agent? Would we have helped the agent?
He was rightfully FIRED!!!! Bye-bye pension. (I hear Burger King is hiring).
Is his reaction at least somewhat understandable? Yes. Is she the aggressor? Yes. But here’s the rub: he’s a police officer not a private citizen, and if he can’t keep his emotions in check before lashing out then he shouldn’t be a police officer. He did not need to punch her in the face, and actually if he’d just shoved her back I’d 100% be on his side here. He punched her because he was mad … not because he needed to. And we need to cull hotheads like that from the ranks in the police departments.
The lady and officer were both wrong. She was the aggressor. It is never wise to get up into someones face. You all seem to forget that there is still a very active virus making people ill and killing others. She was not wearing a mask and was shouting in his face He could not know if she had the virus, but I’m sure it is in the back of one’s mind when someone is in your face unprotected.
He lost his job. She should be prosecuted for assault.
Good points. The article headline twists what she said. She said something like you acting white when you really black. It’s deeply racist and offensive. It’s like the Biden comment about blacks not voting for him are not really black. I guess their acting white. Too many “anti racists” are racists like this woman or apologists for them.
John and GUWonder have it correct. This wasn’t about his fear of being accosted or hurt, it was about the threat to his authority that triggered him, and is the case with most of these officers. Most of Police Officers commit these brutalities upon Black people because of throughout their career. This stems from racism that is imbedded in the culture of policing so much that Police Officers of Color also commit the same acts on their own folks, much like the indoctrination of black slave overseers. Those that feel the officer is justified are not a “racist” but are racist. Preserving White Supremacy is racist, policing in many ways is an establishment that protects White Supremacy. Supporting Police that behave unlawfully against different ethnic/racial groups than white groups prove you are racist. If this is not the case, why are there not videos or cases of a white person being shot in their own home because, on their couch, because someone entered the wrong home, or video of a white male’s neck being knelt on till he dies. Or being shot when not in possession of a weapon, or a black woman punched in the face by an officer who is twice you size, wearing 30 pounds of equipment and backed up by 2 other officers of the same size and equipment because you got in his face. If his wife, mother, daughter got in his face would he have punched her? If yes then there is a problem, if no still a problem because he has the ability to exercise “restraint” even when triggered. You would think cop protectors would be rushing to post and share videos that prove police treat everyone the same, but I have seen any go viral. Is it because:
a. White people don’t care when these things happen to them therefore don’t bother to post them or be outraged?
B. White people don’t commit crimes so they wouldn’t find themselves in these situations?
C. White people are less proficient at using technology on phones to record these crimes?
@Prieto, White people don’t care because they expect something like that to happen when they act that way and then don’t get butt-hurt about it. Statistically police violence and shootings happen to whites more (although yes not per-capita) so you’re correct, why aren’t there more videos? Because of a culture of victimhood in the black community that wants to push their agenda with video.
Police should be fired, period.
Being a Police officer is not and easy job . When this matter is brought before a Judge, one of the first question her Lawyer will ask is about His Police Training. Case close. .
@Mitch, go to Florida pronto and stick your head inside Trump’s a**. Supremacists like you are welcome there.