Five US police officers charged over violent arrests of Black men

Five police officers in Florida have been charged with battery connected to the violent arrests of two Black men last week.

Surveillance video showed an officer chase Dalonta Crudup, 24, into the lobby of the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach in the early morning hours of July 26. The officer ordered Crudup onto the ground at gunpoint, and Crudup complied. Moments later, more than a dozen other officers ran into the lobby to surround Crudup, who could be seen on the ground with his hands behind his back.

Despite being handcuffed and on the ground, Dalonta Crudup was kicked several times by two different officers, as seen on video. Five @MiamiBeachPD officers have been charged w/battery for rough arrests of Crudup and Khalid Vaughn last week at the Royal Palm Hotel. @wsvn pic.twitter.com/ABMC6kIiXW

— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) August 2, 2021

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle held a news conference on Monday to announce the first-degree misdemeanor charges against Miami Beach police Sergeant Jose Perez, Officer Kevin Perez, Officer Robert Sabater, Officer David Rivas and Officer Steven Serrano.

The officers have been suspended and turned themselves in on Monday.

Fernandez Rundle said additional charges might follow.

The incident comes amid a nationwide debate about policing in the United States, sparked largely by the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man who suffocated under the knee of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer. Floyd’s death ignited protests over police brutality and racism in the country.

In April, a court found Chauvin guilty of murder and sentenced him to 22.5 years in prison.

Fernandez Rundle said body camera footage of the Miami incident showed Sergeant Jose Perez kick a handcuffed Crudup three times, while Officer Kevin Perez kicked Crudup at least four times.

“When we saw that kick to the head, and then we replayed it and we saw all the other kicks that preceded it. It was unfathomable. Unspeakable. Inexcusable, “ she said.

Fernandez Rundle said surveillance video also showed Khalid Vaughn, 28, using a mobile phone to record Crudup’s arrest from about four metres (12 feet) away. Body camera footage showed Vaughn backing away at the instruction of an officer when Sabater tackled Vaughn, throwing him to the floor and repeatedly punching him. Fernandez Rundle said Rivas and Serrano also struck Vaughn.

“I started recording it. They already got him in handcuffs. They beat him, turned around, charged me down, beat me … punched me, elbowed me in the face,” Vaughn told Miami’s Local 10 News on Monday. “I literally got jumped by officers,” he said.

The channel reported that Shariff Cobb, 27, also recorded the incident with his mobile phone and was arrested.

Officers said they initially followed Crudup into the hotel because he struck a bicycle patrol officer while driving a scooter recklessly. That officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of leg injuries. Crudup was charged with several counts, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.

Charges against Vaughn of resisting an arrest with violence and impeding a police investigation have been dropped.

Crudup said he suffered from a black eye, blood on his chin and bruised ribs.

“I got beat up, got stitches, went to the hospital,” he told Local 10 News on July 27 after posting bond.

He said he did not realise that police officers were chasing him because he had headphones on and denied that he struck a police officer.