The young woman who was sitting on a bench when she filmed a confrontation between a Fort Lauderdale Police Officer and a homeless man said she had no idea what she was about to capture.
"I was absolutely appalled, it made my stomach turn," Jessica Mooney said Tuesday.
Mooney said she was waiting with her fiance for the bus Sunday afternoon when they spotted Officer Victor Ramirez putting on rubber gloves and decided to record the incident.
"I couldn't even fathom that one of our officers would do that here," she said.
The video shows 58-year-old Bruce Laclair slapped, handcuffed and arrested. Laclair, who spoke with NBC 6 on Tuesday, said he was grateful the incident was filmed.
"I'm extremely grateful, thank goodness they did that, I didn't know," Laclair said. "It caught me off guard cause it's not something that I would expect from a police officer."
Laclair said he was trying to use the restroom when he was arrested for trespassing by Ramirez. he was booked into jail and later released.
Mooney said she shudders to think what would have happened if the confrontation wasn't recorded.
"It's just not right, at the end of the day, it's just not right," she said.
At a Tuesday morning news conference, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley said he's launching a criminal investigation and putting Ramirez on paid leave.
"We need to let this investigation take its course," Adderley said.
Mooney has started an online account, trying to raise funds for Laclair.
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"Just to get him off the streets, help him out a little bit, get him on his feet and hopefully it'll also bring some attention to us not having any more police brutality in Fort Lauderdale," she said.
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