Miami Beach Police Officers Charged With Battery

Miami FL

05 August, 2021

9:37 AM

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By Johania Charles, the Miami Times Aug 3, 2021 Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is charging five Miami Beach police officers with first-degree misdemeanor charges for their actions during the arrests of two Black men at a hotel in South Beach last week. The officers could each face up to a year in prison or pay up to $1,000 in fines because of the battery charges. At a press conference Monday afternoon, Fernandez Rundle revealed that the decision was made after her office, along with the Miami Beach Police Department, reviewed surveillance footage of the event. That same day, surveillance video from the Royal Palm's hotel lobby was released to the public revealing the police encounter in detail. In the video, 24-year-old Dalonta Crudup is seen running through the hotel lobby and into the elevator before an officer holds him at gunpoint and commands him to lay on the ground with his hands behind his head. That officer then proceeds to handcuff Crudup while other MBPD officers swarm the lobby and surround the suspect. Crudup was arrested for allegedly injuring a bicycle officer with his scooter before fleeing from police who witnessed what happened. The chase ended inside the lobby. Twenty-one officers were present during the arrest, some of whom hovered over Crudup to help detain him. Sgt. Jose Perez, one of the officers being charged, kicked Crudup in the head at least three times while he was still on the ground and handcuffed. Officer Kevin Perez, no relation to the other officer, also kicked Crudup at least four times. Another officer then picks up Crudup and drops him on the head on the lobby floor. Khalid Vaughn, a bystander and hotel guest who witnessed the use of excessive force, took out his phone and began recording the incident. Officer Robert Sabatar tackles Khalid Vaughn in a surveillance video. (Office of Miami-Dade State Attorney) When officers noticed Vaughn, a few turned their attention to him, although he was at least 10 feet away from where the arrest was taking place. Body cameras on one officer speaking to Vaughn show the moment Officer Robert Sabatar tackles him. At least five officers alerted by the ensuing chaos in the lobby turned to Sabatar to help him arrest Vaughn. Officers David Rivas and Steven Serrano landed a few punches to Vaughn's rib cage area. The video showed no signs that Vaughn interfered with Crudup's arrest, as the officer reported. Body camera footage from an officer responding to the scene at the Royal Palm hotel shows Khalid Vaughn recording the arrest of Dalonta Crudup before officers then approached him. (Office of Miami-Dade State Attorney) "He was within his rights," said Fernandez Rundle, explaining that Vaughn did not go against any law by recording the incident. Her office has dropped all charges against Vaughn. "As I've said before, excessive force can never, ever, ever, be an acceptable foundation for the policing of any community," said Fernandez Rundle. "Officers who forget that do a grave disservice to the people they have sworn to serve, they harm their own departments and belittle the good [and] hard work their fellow officers try to accomplish in the community." Last week, just four officers were relieved of duty following the investigation into the incident. Monday morning, the five officers turned themselves in at the MBPD station in phases. MBPD Police Chief Richard Clements condemned the officers' behavior, launching the investigation and working with the attorney's office to take corrective action. "Moving forward, I can tell you that my staff and I promise you, as individuals and as an agency, that we will learn from this. And we will grow from this," he said at the press conference. "The more appropriate response was to get things under control." Clements said the department will be going over the "command and control" approach in policing to make sure an incident like this is not repeated. Both Clements and Fernandez Rundle said they were deeply disturbed when they saw the video. "It's intolerable, unfathomable and inexcusable," said Fernandez Rundle, referring to the use of excessive force. Her office is committed to the investigation in this case after backing HB 7051, a police reform bill that promotes creating standards of training and policies for law enforcement officers, implements policies for "use of force" investigations and requires that reports from those investigations be submitted to the state attorney. The bill went into effect July 1, 2021, in response to widespread national outrage against police misconduct and violence against people of color. The state attorney's office plans to continue promoting officer duties to de-escalate, intervene and report, saying that a culture shift needs to take place in policing to right the wrongs. Clements said the outcome of the investigation will determine if the officers charged will be fired. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.