The Miami-Dade Police Department has ordered an investigation of one of their officers seen on video hitting a woman across the face.
The officer has been relieved of duty.
An unmasked Black woman argued with a masked, male Miami-Dade police officer.
The woman yelled at the officer, "You acting like you White when you really Black. ... What you gonna do?" as she gets in his face.
The officer proceeds to hit the woman in the face before grabbing her and pushing her to the ground. A second officer rushed in, as did another officer whose body cam was recording the incident. The officer who hit the woman could be heard claiming "she headbutted me."
Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl says the officer hit her with an "open-hand slap," sometimes called a "diversionary strike."
"Clearly she was the aggressor. She was being asked to leave. She's being belligerent and she pushes her face right into his face," Stahl remarked.
Seeing the video, Miami Police Director Freddy Ramirez tweeted that it "shocked and angered" him and he "initiated an investigation and ordered that the involved officers be relieved of duty."
"This will not stand, and I assure our community that any officer acting in this vain will be held to account," he said, adding that he's asked Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle's office to join the investigation.
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