HOMESTEAD, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents appeared before the Homestead City Council to express their concerns about the body camera footage of a controversial 2022 arrest.
Homestead residents who addressed council members on Wednesday night asked them to move in a different direction after, they said, they described the Oct. 17, 2022 arrest caught on bodycam video as excessive force.
“We are here to say that there is a need for change in the leadership of the City of Homestead Police Department,” said one resident.
Tania Gonzalez, director of the nonprofit Savage Combat, spoke to 7News about the matter.
“We all want the same thing, which is the best police department that can properly protect and represent our community, and the only way we are going to get it is to disrupt what we have going on, because it’s not working,” she said.
The community outrage comes days after Homestead Police released the bodycam footage showing the man, identified as Mateo Agosto, getting punched, pepper-sprayed and shocked with a Taser as officers tried to arrest him.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office reviewed the video and chose not to move forward with charges for the police officers involved in this case.
When referring to the part in the video where the officer is “kneeing” the man in the face, a spokesperson for the state attorney’s office wrote: “Though this is optically offensive, given the totality of the circumstances (Agosto failing to comply with police verbal commands, resisting arrest, and applying pressure to Officer Lago’s fingers), it does not rise to a level where criminal prosecution is appropriate.”
Homestead Police said they have been telling people for months where the incident happened that people aren’t allowed to hang out there because it is private property. The department said it stands by the state attorney’s decision.
“We learned of this from our department. This did not come out from outside. We learned this from the law enforcement community. The chief at that point ordered that this case be taken to the state attorney’s office,” said Homestead Police Department Captain Fernando Morales.
The department also said, that regardless of the decision, they have enhanced their training since the arrest happened, but not because they felt they did anything wrong.
“I think that for a while now, police departments are two steps behind on the trust department because of exactly what happened here,” said Morales. “Some of these edited videos come out, and the truth isn’t laid out like we’re doing now. Part of building that trust is opening up the case and discussing it in an open forum.”
Gonzalez said what she saw on the bodycam video was excessive, standing by the comments she made to 7News when the video was released.
“What I hope is that this is the start of positive change for the department, to regain public trust and that we will be able to, as a community, work with the department and with the city council to make the proper changes to make Homestead a safer place,” she said.
Morales said he stands by his police chief and his decisions.
Both sides said they hope that one day they can come together and rebuild trust.
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