OPA-LOCKA, FLA. (WSVN) - An Opa-Locka Police officer is under investigation for misconduct after he was caught on video slapping a man’s cellphone from his hand.
The incident happened when officers were sent to an apartment complex along Northwest 22nd Avenue after they received a Crime Stoppers tip that a man was armed with a gun on Nov. 7.
While police searched the area, they entered an apartment, and Jeffrey Byron, a resident, began recording the detectives.
“I’m telling him there’s nobody in here,” Byron said. “Nobody told you to come in here. I know my rights. I know I have to allow y’all to come in before y’all enter my home. They already entered the wrong person’s home, and now, they want to enter my home, and he said, ‘Oh, I don’t need no warrant. I don’t need no warrant.’ That was me with the phone in hand.”
Byron said he was home with his infant son when the officer came in.
As he got closer to a masked detective, the officer could be seen in the video pushing Byron’s cellphone out of his hand.
“He sees me recording, so he, like, reached over and smacked it and grabbed it out of my hand,” Byron said.
The video was posted to social media where people have voiced their concerns.
Police began an internal affairs investigation into the incident on Tuesday.
They released a statement on the incident that read in part, “The Opa-Locka Police Department cannot comment on the exact facts of an active investigation, but it takes any and all allegations of misconduct very seriously. Any allegation of police misconduct will be investigated immediately.”
Byron said he has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with Opa-Locka City Manager John Pate. He added that police apologized to him after the incident and plans to file suit against the city.
Opa-Locka Police Chief James Dobson discussed the incident at a press conference held on Wednesday morning.
Dobson announced the undercover officer, who will not be identified, has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the investigation.
He also reiterated the officer needed verbal consent or a warrant from a judge to enter the man’s apartment.
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