Miami-Dade Cop
Attacks Innocent Man Before Turning On News Crew
A Miami-Dade cop who claimed he was looking for a robbery
suspect confronted an innocent man who was standing in front of his home,
threatening to taser him before grabbing by him his neck, slamming him to the
sidewalk and throwing him into the back of his patrol car Thursday.
When officer Thomas realized that 26-year-old Jorge Soto
was not the man he was looking for, he released him.
But when a Spanish language news crew arrived on the
scene to interview the cop, he ordered them to turn off the camera, demanding
their identifications.
Officer Thomas ended up writing three citations to the
news videographer, including one for not wearing a seatbelt, even though the
cameraman was not even inside his car at the time.
The incident began when Thomas pulled up to Soto and
demanded his identification. When Soto told him he had no identification with
him, that he was standing in front of his own home, Thomas grabbed him by his
neck and slammed him down, according to Soto and various witnesses.
América Tevé reporter Ernesto Morales Licea, who has been
an avid Photography is Not a Crime reader ever since I was invited on
his network to speak about my
last arrest in February, did an
excellent job of standing up to the cop when he turned on them, ordering to
turn off their camera.
It was only a few years ago that Morales was a journalist
in Cuba so he knows all too well about governmental suppression of the press.
And he’s not about to let that happen too easily in the
United States.
Thomas is now being investigated by internal affairs,
according to Morales’ report.