MIAMI (WSVN) - The City of Miami’s police chief has expressed his concern regarding some local protest videos that have gone viral on social media.
Chief Jorge Colina posted a video message on Twitter on Monday disputing the videos, and he also provided context with new video of the incidents.
“The truth matters,” Colina said. “This is what’s happening here. We take every precaution that we can.”
During the video, the chief addressed the arrests that were made during the weekend’s protests, but the chief focused on one arrest in particular.
“A protester who’s claiming that she was arrested for no reason, that she was legally on the sidewalk, and that the purpose of our arrest was to target her because she is an organizer of these protests,” Colina said. “That is not true. It is false, and we’re going to show you what it is that occurred because the truth matters, and I’d like the public to know what exactly occurred.”
In a video from July 15, a woman could be seen being taken into custody by Miami Police officers.
The chief spoke about the woman in the video, gave a breakdown and shared video of what, he said, happened and why she was arrested.
“Clearly out in the street along with the other protesters, the light is green, and you could see where vehicular traffic is now trying to go around these protesters, so they don’t strike someone,” Colina said.
According to Colina, before that incident, the woman was arrested at another demonstration held two days prior, but she had a different attitude with police.
“Sorry that we’re wasting your resources for a message that, if you didn’t get it, it’s all females,” she said to an officer on body camera video.
Over the weekend, a peaceful protest in downtown Miami led to some tense moments, including a gun being waved from the inside of a car.
A man could also be seen jumping onto a car in traffic. However, one protester shared a different side of that story.
“Our brother, who was almost ran over, he pointed a gun at him, and then he pointed a gun at me, touched it to my chest! I didn’t incite anything,” he said.
Police said no one was seriously injured during the arrests.
Colina, however, ended his statement with one final message.
“If you want to be arrested, we will accommodate you,” he said. “If you don’t and you truly want to protest peacefully, we’re thankful. Please do that and remain on the sidewalk. You don’t have to waste our resources anymore, and we won’t have to arrest you.”
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