MIAMI (WSVN) - What started when, police said, a man took an expensive watch from a downtown Miami jewelry store led to a fistfight and rough arrest, a series of chaotic events that were all caught on camera.
The arrest took place on Northeast First Avenue, near the Seybold Building, Monday afternoon.
The incident reportedly began after a man, identified by police as 37-year-old Roberto Casado, was accused of taking a $14,000 watch from a jewelry store in the area, which led to a fight near 58 N.E. 1st St.
Casado appeared in bond court Tuesday afternoon. He was charged with battery on a police officer, grand theft, resisting an officer with violence, among other charges.
Cellphone video captured the fistfight between the suspect and several store employees in the middle of the street.
Police were called shortly after.
According to Miami Police, Casado refused to cooperate when he was being taken into custody.
The cellphone video captured several officers struggling with the 6 foot-2 inch tall, 230-pound man for more than two minutes.
“Turn around,” said one officer.
“I will,” said Casado.
“Stop resisting,” said one officer.
“Come on, I can’t breathe, man,” Casado said.
In the video, Casado is heard saying he cannot breathe multiple times.
At one point, he is heard telling officers, “I can’t breathe. I’ve got asthma, bro.”
The video also appears to show an officer using a Taser on him and giving him an elbow to the head while he was on the ground.
According to the arrest report, the suspect refused to follow commands, and at one point, he bit and officer’s hand, causing significant pain.
During Casado’s court appearance, he and his attorney explained that his client is also a jeweler.
“It doesn’t say that he stole the watch. Essentially, it’s implied that they let him take the watch,” said the attorney.
“I thought I was the victim,” said Casado.
However, Miami-Dade District Judge Mindy Glazer pointed out another section of the arrest report.
“Well, keep reading the last line. ‘When victim reached out to the subject, after he saw him posing with [the watch] on social media, defendant told him he will not be paying for the watch, do what you have to do,'” she said.
Casado also claimed someone at the jewelry store stabbed him. He pulled up his shirt to show Glazer the wound.
The judge ordered him to stay away from the jewelry store and its employees.
Tuesday afternoon, Miami Police Officer Kenia Fallat issued a statement on the arrest and the cellphone video. It reads in part, “We have determined that the gentleman was not in any level of distress, suggesting that he could not breathe. Instead, he was trying to incite a crowd while resisting officers.”
Fallat’s statement goes on to say, “Officers only used the force necessary and in accordance with Miami Police policy in order to subdue and arrest the individual.”
Casado was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be checked out before he was booked into jail. He has posted a $7,000 bond.
Shortly after walking out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade, Tuesday night, Casado said he was wrongfully accused, and this was all a misunderstanding.
He showed 7News cameras an elbow injury that he said he suffered during his encounter with the officers.
“I feel like an 18-wheeler got me,” he said. “This jail, I don’t recommend you to here.”
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