Cop cleared of violent punch, while 2 who shared video are sanctioned
A Miami Beach police officer whose violent punch of a man at an Ocean Drive restaurant two years ago was caught on video was cleared. In an odd twist, the two officers who took exception to the punch were reprimanded.
A Miami Beach police officer suspended after body camera footage showed him coldcocking a restaurant patron two years ago, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by internal affairs and state prosecutors.
Two other officers wound up in hot water instead. Their misdeed? They copied and shared the video of the punch.
Internal Affairs investigators gave Miami Beach Police Officer Alfredo Garcia a written warning last month for “producing and distributing an unauthorized version of recordings” from his body camera. Garcia used his cellphone to record the footage from his body camera, then posted it on a social media site, before quickly taking it down.
And Officer Frederick Dominguez — who did not see the punch in person — received
notice of a 10-hour suspension for releasing a copy of the tape made by Garcia to his attorney, Michael Pizzi. The officer, according to an internal affairs report, asked Pizzi to “forward it to the proper authorities” and seek whistleblower protection for him.
Dominguez, who still works as a Beach police officer, hasn’t yet served the suspension and continues to fight it. His suspension was recommended despite him asking for whistleblower protection when he gave the video to his attorney almost two years ago.
Meanwhile, officer
Adriel Dominguez — who threw the punch that led to the police reviews and is not related to Frederick Dominguez — was cleared of any wrongdoing by Miami-Dade State prosecutors and is back at work after being relieved of patrol duties during the investigation. Prosecutors determined the officer used the proper amount of force after being threatened by the bar patron.
Pizzi blasted the the Internal Affairs finding against his client and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for failing to prosecute Adriel Dominguez.
“What a disgrace. Based on the way this was handled, it’s open season on innocent people,” said Pizzi. “It’s outrageous.”
The information on the Miami Beach police officers came to light after a recent public records request by the Miami Herald. In the close-out memo that cleared Adriel Dominguez last October, the MiamiDade State Attorney’s Office said the officer could have believed Lowell Poitier Jr. was “about to hit him.”
“Thus, officer Dominguez had the right to protect himself,” wrote Assistant State Attorney Sandra Miller-Batiste.
When video footage of the punch was publicly released almost two years ago, city leaders said they found it shocking but warned the public to allow investigators to do their job before rushing to judgment.
Tuesday, Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements
said there is often a side to police work that “doesn’t always look good,” but falls within the guidelines of what officers are trained to do.
“I believe this is one of those cases,” said the chief. “He was in what the officer perceived to be a fighting stance. In that case the officer reverted back to his training. It was a distractionary blow.”
And, Clements said, the two officers dinged for releasing video footage of the incident committed a violation of the department’s body camera policy.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber had not responded to an interview request in reference to the police department’s handling of the Poitier case by midafternoon Tuesday.
The fracas that led to the investigations happened around dinner time in December of 2018 at the Pelican Hotel just north of Eighth Street on Ocean Drive. The restaurant’s manager called police, according to the state’s close-out memo, because Poitier, who was 35 at the time, refused to put out a cigar and was disturbing other patrons.
According to internal affairs investigators, when Garcia and Adriel Dominguez
arrived they spoke to the manager and asked Poitier to leave. Then, the report says, Poitier, who is Black, swore at the officers and called them “crackers.” Video of the confrontation shows Poitier walk toward Adriel Dominguez and put his face within inches of the officer’s face. The officer then grabs Poitier briefly with his left hand and cold-cocks him with a right, sending him crashing to the ground.
Some parts of Poitier’s arrest report didn’t seem to match what was seen on the video. In the report, police wrote that Poitier clenched his fist and took a fighting stance. That didn’t seem to be the case in the video.
Poitier was charged with resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct, though those charges were later dropped.
David Kubiliun, an attorney who represents Poitier, said his client is working as a laborer in North Florida and is getting by. He said they intend to file a civil rights lawsuit against the department and the city in the coming weeks, arguing excessive force was used.
The incident at the Pelican Hotel — though long before law enforcement reform protests erupted across the nation after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer — is strikingly similar to a confrontation last month at Miami International Airport that led to the removal of a Miami-Dade police officer.
In early July, a ticket agent notified police that a 21-year-old woman named Paris Anderson was becoming a threat. Cellphone video footage of the incident shows that when officer Antonio Clemente Rodriguez arrived he tried to calm the woman down. The woman, though, became more incensed and as she put her mask-less face within inches of Rodriguez and continued to yell obscenities, he slapped her.
The next day MiamiDade Police Director Alfredo “Freddie” Ramirez said he had begun the termination process against Rodriguez. The union representing the officer said he did what he was trained to do and continues to support him while he’s on leave.