Five Miami Beach cops charged after pummeling two men
Five Miami Beach police officers were hit with criminal charges on Monday for using excessive force on a man in handcuffs and for pummeling a bystander who was videotaping the incident on his cellphone.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, with Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements at her side, announced the charges after showing a four-minute video clip in which 21 officers descend on a man they chased into a South Beach hotel, who is alleged to have hit an officer with his motor scooter.
In the video, one officer repeatedly kicks the handcuffed man in the head, before another officer picks him up and slams his head to the ground. A short while later a group of officers redirect their attention to a man videotaping the incident. He’s soon slammed into a concrete pillar, then repeatedly punched and elbowed in the head and rib cage while on the ground.
The arrest of two men in Miami Beach sparked an internal affairs investigation within the city’s own police department.
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