A Black Miami police officer will be fired over an incident with a Black woman at Miami International Airport. After a verbal exchange, he slapped the woman near the security screening lines.
The Miami Herald obtained body camera footage of the incident.
Police officer strikes woman during dispute at Miami airportyoutu.be
The footage shows a Black woman and Black police officer engaged in a verbal altercation Tuesday while other officers look on, one of whose body camera was the source of the footage.
As the altercation becomes more heated, the woman moves closer and closer to the officer and can be heard calling out the officer's behavior as "White."
"You acting like you White when you really Black.
The woman then moves very close to the officer's face and challenges him.
"What you want to do?"
The officer then slaps her so hard she falls backward.
Ascramble ensues as the other officers present attempt to handcuff her.
During the scuffle, the officer who slapped the woman claims:
"She headbutted me."
The body cam footage shows this was not the case.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez expressed shock over the incident.
In a follow-up tweet, Director Ramirez stated the Officer's behavior would not be tolerated.
"This will not stand, and I assure our community that any officer acting in this vain [sic] will be held to account."
In another tweet, Ramirez shared he had asked Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to open an investigation into the use of force.
"I have also just spoken to our State Attorney @KathyFndzRundle and asked that her office immediately become involved in the investigation."
Ramirez later posted that the officer would be terminated.
On Twitter, people were outraged.
The thought was even if insulted by her words, the on-duty uniformed officer should not have responded with violence.
On Wednesday, Herald journalist David Ovalle reported that the Miami-Dade Police's union insisted the woman was at fault.
However this justification ignores the fact a civilian who responds to a verbal altercation with physical violence will get arrested for assault.
Or that slaps don't seem to be the answer when the yelling and pushing into the faces of law enforcement is done by heavily armed White men.
The officer in question was identified as Antonio Clemente Rodriguez, who was identified as Black Puerto Rican.
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