A hidden GoPro camera mounted in the dash of squad car captured a scuffle between a Miami police officer and a plain-clothes Internal Affairs lieutenant.
Miami Police Officer Marcel Jackson pulled over an unmarked vehicle for speeding, not knowing its driver was Lt. David Ramras from Internal Affairs. Ramras opened the door during the traffic stop and Jackson ultimately took the outranking lieutenant to the ground, the Miami NBC-affiliate reports.
From the video, it appears Ramras opens the door and lunges at Jackson. Jackson holds Ramras against the car momentarily before throwing him to the ground.
While the Miami police department doesn’t use dashcams or bodycams, Jackson recorded the stop with his personal GoPro camera and much of the conversation can be heard.
“You know, I was actually on my way to a call,” Jackson told someone named Rick over the phone following the incident. “The only reason I stopped him is because he approached a pedestrian. He was flying, so I pulled him over.”
“He’s like, ‘What’s all that stuff on your face?’” Jackson said on the phone. “And I’m like, ‘Excuse me? I said, ‘Sir, that’s none of your concern.’ And then he, and then he pushes open the door.”
Some of the conversation between Ramras and Jackson can also be heard on the recording.
“Do you know who the fuck I am?” Ramras asked Jackson.
“No, I don’t,” the officer replied.
“I showed you ID,” Ramras said.
Following the incident, Jackson was relieved from duty with pay and Ramras was transferred to an investigations unit.
Jackson’s lawyer, Scott Srebnick, sent a letter to Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa and Major Jorge Martin of the Special Investigation Section requesting the incident be handled by another agency. In the letter, he writes:
Given the incident involves a high ranking officer formerly assigned to IA, and given the disparate treatment of the two officers to date, fairness and the appearance of fairness require that this matter be assigned to another law enforcement agency for investigation. Indeed, one of the matters that ought to be investigated is the handling of the investigation in the hours immediately following the incident. … The fact that the internal investigation is apparently being handled by a unit other than IA – the Special Investigations Section – provides me no additional comfort given Lt. Ramras’s high-ranking position in the MPD. Moreover, given the statement attributed to Chief Orosa in the on-line edition of the Miami Herald today, it appears that Chief Orosa has already reached certain conclusions about the facts before any formal statements have ever been taken and without even knowing all the facts.
Below is the raw video of the stop.
This is the phone conversation between Jackson and Rick.
[ NBC Miami ]
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