A southwest Miami-Dade business owner and his son are speaking out about getting arrested while Miami-Dade officers were seen on camera roughly taking a convicted felon into custody.
The incident happened Thursday night when Miami-Dade Police officers were arresting Jarvis Swanson, later charging him with carrying a weapon as a convicted felon. Drug charges from October also kept in him jail past his initial bond hearing.
In the video that was later posted online and went viral, officers are seen struggling with Swanson while he is on the ground. One officer is seen punching Swanson in the side of his head. People are heard yelling at the officers, and others can be heard telling those recording to get images of the officers' faces.
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The ordeal happened outside of the United Beauty Supply store located on the border of Homestead and Cutler Bay. The owner, Mike Wadi, and his son Ramzi head the chaos and stepped out to see what was happening.
“They were beating the guy up," Mike Wadi told NBC 6. "I’m telling them officers, you guys already got him, why are you guys hitting him? How they were hitting him— they were ramming into the face and to the floor.”
Ramzi Wadi said that one of the officer's body cameras fell off and was on the ground, so he picked it up and pointed it in the direction of the officers.
That's when, Ramzi said, the officers then charged him — a moment that was also captured on the store's surveillance video camera.
"I was terrified," Ramzi Wadi said. “As soon as I tried to go back inside the store, the guy came and grabbed my hand, my arm, and started punching me, and I was defending myself. So, I basically pushed him back — all of a sudden, his whole crew, all his teammates, came and attacked me. One came from behind me, two from the side — started punching me, punching me."
The Wadis also shared cellphone video a family member shot from that night, which shows Miami-Dade officers keeping Mike Wadi to the ground and another officer being aggressive and pointing a Taser at a third family member.
Ramzi Wadi was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, and along with his dad, was taken to the county jail. The police report says Ramzi was interfering with officers and pushed one of them in the back.
Both say they were treated unfairly.
“I never had a problem with the law enforcement. I never had a problem with them," Mike Wadi said. "But the way he did was totally wrong. It was not called for. It don’t matter if you are a convicted felon or nothing, you’re still a human being. They shouldn’t be treating people like that.”
The police department said Monday it had nothing to aid to the statement it sent several days ago, saying, “The Mami-Dade Police Department is aware of an incident that occurred overnight in our South District where our officers were involved in a physical confrontation with an armed convicted felon. During this incident a total of four individuals were arrested and three firearms were seized. In our continued efforts of full transparency, We immediately initiated an internal affairs investigation into the matter with our Professional Compliance Bureau. The officers involved have been reassigned to administrative duties. We will continually evaluate this case, as the internal affairs process continues.”
The men at the beauty supply shop say internal affairs officers arrived Monday to interview them.
Miami-Dade Police said Monday that six officers have been placed on administrative duty as the internal affairs investigation continues.
Correction (March 29) - This article has been updated. A previous version incorrectly stated that the Wadis' cellphone footage of the incident shows a Miami-Dade officer pointing a Taser at Ramzi Wadi. The officer was actually pointing the Taser at Mike Wadi's other son, not Ramzi.
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