A Miami Beach cop is blowing the whistle on a fellow officer after he punched out an unarmed black man outside of a restaurant.
According to the Miami Herald, the officer, Frederick Dominguez, released a copy of the body cam video of the incident that took place at the Pelican Hotel on Dec. 3. In the video, officers are seen standing around a menu stand when 35-year-old Lowell Poitier Jr. grabs something off the top of the stand.
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A voice is heard saying “watch yourself bud” a couple of times before Poitier gets into officer Adriel Dominguez’s face and says, “what? what?”
Dominguez - no relation to Frederick Dominguez - responds by punching Poitier in the face and knocking him out cold as someone laughs in the background. Frederick Dominguez was not at the scene that night but obtained a copy of the video, said his attorney Michael Pizzi.
Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates told the Miami Herald that said he’d just seen the video this morning. He called the video a “very serious matter” in a statement, adding that he referred it to internal affairs.
“I’ve already referred it to internal affairs to investigate,” he said.
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According to police reports filed after the incident, cops were called to the hotel at 9:20 p.m., after a witness claimed Poitier was acting irate and refusing to leave. Poitier was allegedly calling two women “f-ing gringas,” the arrest report said.
“Gringas” is a Spanish word referring to white women. Police said when they approached Poitier, he became agitated, called them “crackers” and “appeared as if he wanted to challenge” the authority of one cop.
The arrest report said Poitier said “what, what” - which was shown in the video - and “clenched his fist, took a fighting stance and leaned into” Adriel Dominguez’s face. Dominguez, supposedly fearing for his safety, punched out Poitier.
The video shows the officer grabbing Poitier and quickly pulling him in with his left hand while punching him with his right.
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Poitier was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center for treatment. Despite being punched and not touching officers, he was charged with misdemeanor assault on a police officer, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct and later released on bond.