cop slaps man
© Youtube
A Fort Lauderdale cop who was caught on cell phone camera slapping a homeless man across the face is now facing charges.

On February 22, a bystander recorded the altercation between Officer Victor Ramirez, 34, and Bruce Laclair, 58.

From CBS Miami:
The video, captured by a witness at a downtown Ft. Lauderdale bus depot, shows what appears to be Ramirez striking 58-year old Bruce Laclair.

"I was sitting there on a bench and a police officer came up and started rousing me and said he was going to arrest me for trespassing," Laclair told CBS4's Ted Scouten shortly after the incident.

In the police report, Ramirez said Laclair was sleeping on a bus bench.

"I had to go to the bathroom," Laclair said, "and he wouldn't let me go to the bathroom, so the argument stemmed from simply going to the bathroom, that's all I wanted to do."

In the video, Laclair, is seen walking in front of the officer.

You then see Ramirez put his hand on Laclair. When Laclair tries to pull away, Ramirez appears to shove him on the ground. Laclair then shouts an obscenity and tells the officer he needs to use the restroom.

"You're not going to pee. You're not supposed to be here, OK? So get up," Ramirez is heard saying in the video.

Another exchange of words ensues, and that's when the officer is seen slapping Laclair.
Watch (warning: profanity and violence):


Last Thursday, the Broward State Attorney's Office on filed three misdemeanor charges against Ramirez: two counts of battery for pushing and slapping Laclair, and one count of falsifying records for misrepresenting the facts when he wrote a police report about the incident.

That's right: Ramirez LIED in his police report. He wrote that he warned Laclair not to touch him, and struck him after he fell to "distract [him] and keep him from grabbing me."

Ramirez also said that Laclair was sleeping on a bench, and when he woke him up and asked him to leave, the man swore at him. Ramirez claimed that he tried to escort Laclair out of the terminal, and that Laclair "pulled away from [me] in a violent manner. I reacted by pushing Laclair away from me to keep him from attacking me."

The complaint affidavit that lists Ramirez's charges states that the video evidence contradicts the information in the officer's report: the officer did not give Laclair a warning, Laclair did not touch Ramirez nor was he pushed and slapped to prevent an attack upon Ramirez, and Ramirez did not help Laclair get up off the ground.
"Victor Ramirez misrepresented the facts regarding the altercation and/or conversation between the defendant and the victim," the affidavit said.
After the video of the slap appeared on YouTube, Ramirez was placed on administrative leave with pay. After charges were levied, Ramirez was relieved of duty without pay.

Ramirez has been with the department for nine years and has no disciplinary history. Three prior discourtesy complaints were lodged against him, but none of the complaints were sustained.

Perhaps that is because there was no one around to record those incidents.

Mayor Jack Seiler urged the public to not judge the entire department based on this incident:
"Look around where you work. Look around where I work. Look around at all of our jobs and tell me is there one percent of your work force that has maybe made a very poor decision or acted irresponsibly," Seiler said.
Seiler also said:
"I think they're competent, I think they're professional but in every group there are a few individuals who may do something that's not up to par, they're a few individuals that may do something that offends us."
But just a few days ago, the Sun-Sentinel reported that the Fort Lauderdale Citizen Police Review Board wants a more thorough investigation of police behavior. And, the U.S. Department of Justice has been urged to launch a wider review of possible racial bias at the FLPD by Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein.

Last month, three Fort Lauderdale cops, Jason Holding, James Wells and Christopher Sousa, were fired after a five-month internal investigation revealed "sustained department misconduct, conduct unbecoming of a police officer and engaging in conduct prejudicial to the good of the order of the police department." A fourth officer, Alex Alvarez, resigned but authorities said that he would have been fired anyway.

The four officers exchanged racist text messages and one made a blatantly racist video.

From CNN:
In the text message exchanges, the former officers used racially derogatory terms to refer to people they encountered while on duty, included racially insensitive material from the film, "Django Unchained," and talked about getting drunk and "killing n*****," according to investigative documents.

The men allegedly criticized co-workers, including African-Americans, making crude comments about their grammar, appearance and work ethic. One message referred to an entire shift as "lazy f****," the documents state.

Alvarez created a faux movie trailer with the title "The Hoods," with offensive language and images of Obama, the Ku Klux Klan and African-Americans.

"There was no criminal behavior detected during this investigation, however, the four officers' conduct was inexcusable and there is zero tolerance for this kind of behavior in the Fort Lauderdale Police Department," Chief Franklin Adderley told reporters.
Mayor Seiler may wish to blow these cases off as exceptions, but that begs the question: how much police brutality and misconduct is too much?