A Sunrise Police sergeant is under investigation after body camera footage showed him putting his hand on another officer's throat.
Sgt. Christopher Pullease has been relieved of supervisory responsibilities and is the subject of an internal affairs investigation following the Nov. 19 incident, Sunrise Police Chief Anthony Rosa said in a statement Friday.
Pullease had responded to a scene after a suspect in a violent felony had been arrested and officers were trying to put him in the backseat of a patrol car, Rosa said.
The suspect was resisting officers, but after he'd been put into the patrol car, Pullease approached and got into a verbal altercation with the suspect, which Rosa called "inappropriate and unprofessional."
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In an effort to de-escalate the situation, another officer approached Pullease from behind and grabbed him by his duty belt and pulled him away, Rosa said.
Police body camera footage showed Pullease turning around while backpedaling then momentarily placing his hand at the throat of the officer while pushing the officer backwards.
The faces of all of the officers except Pullease are blurred in the video, and the audio is muted.
Local
NBC 6 Anchor Roxanne Vargas spoke to NBC 6 Investigative Reporter Willard Shepard and the Assistant Director for the City of Miami Civilian Investigative Panel Rodney W. Jacobs, Jr. to break down the investigation within the Sunrise Police Department.
Watch the conversation in the video above.
