Carlos Miller, the incredibly important Florida journalist who chronicles police abuse and illegal actions in response to those who tape that abuse, has a report on another appalling incident with the Miami-Dade police. A cop there allegedly brutalized a man standing in front of his own house, then illegally harassed a camera crew that came there to cover the incident.
A Miami-Dade cop who claimed he was looking for a robbery suspect confronted an innocent man who was standing in front of his home, threatening to tase him before grabbing by him his neck, slamming him to the sidewalk and throwing him into the back of his patrol car Thursday…
The incident began when Thomas pulled up to Soto and demanded his identification. When Soto told him he had no identification with him, that he was standing in front of his own home, Thomas grabbed him by his neck and slammed him down, according to Soto and various witnesses.
América Tevé reporter Ernesto Morales Licea, who has been an avid Photography is Not a Crime reader ever since I was invited on his network to speak about my last arrest in February, did an excellent job of standing up to the cop when he turned on them, ordering to turn off their camera.
Internal Affairs is now apparently investigating the officer, but I’d be very surprised if he got anything more than a slap on the wrist — if that. Carlos Miller is going to be a guest on my radio show next week.
7 comments
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anandine
April 24, 2012 at 10:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You know, Ed, I enjoy your blog, but reading about routine abuse of power every day really gets to be depressing. I’m not saying you should stop pointing it out, ’cause we need to know about it, but jeez, we live in a fucked up country in a lot of ways.
Didaktylos
April 24, 2012 at 10:53 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Police Department Internal Affairs sections should all be closed down – only purely disciplinary offences should be handled internally. Allegations of criminal misconduct on duty should be investigated by a completely separate agency. And officers convicted of criminal misconduct on duty should not be segregated from the general prison population.
theschwa
April 24, 2012 at 10:54 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
IDK, Maybe if those people would just stop deliberately antagonizing the police…
(i.e. stop doing things like standing around minding one’s own business on one’s own property, or recording from a distance events that transpire. Jerks. They deserve it!).
Bronze Dog
April 24, 2012 at 12:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You said it, anandine. It messes with my sense of national identity.
Yesterday I got a bit disturbed when I saw a cop flashing his lights behind me. I couldn’t think of anything wrong that I had done. I was on a college campus. I had a minor mess in my car. Thankfully, it was a civilized affair about my inspection sticker, which I forgot to update. Looking back, I wonder what could have happened if I hadn’t been white, or if my car had been sporting a Darwin fish.
Marcus Ranum
April 24, 2012 at 12:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That “internal affairs” racket – as a way of covering up police abuse without having to expose it to the public – sounds like something invented by the Roman Catholic Church…
Pteryxx
April 24, 2012 at 1:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
From the cited OP, even more coolness:
More in the article linked above.
Victor
April 25, 2012 at 12:11 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In addition to what Marcus @5 said, my pet peeves re how law enforcement interacts with the public are (1) how events like shooting are called “in policy”, and (2) here in SoCal at least, how the standard excuse is that the suspect’s hand was moving towards their waistband.
We might not agree with every law, but generally two branches of government have to agree on the law, and the public can go to the courts for review. But “policy”? A bunch of cops decide what is in their best interest and that’s that. Maybe there’s a civilian review board, but they’re usually toothless.