Caught on Camera

Hollywood Cop Accused of Battery Testifies in His Own Defense

Hollywood Police Officer Matthew Barbieri tells his side of the story in his battery trial

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A Hollywood police officer on trial for allegedly slapping and choking a combative drug suspect took the witness stand in his own defense Wednesday.

Matthew Joseph Barbieri testified he and a partner answered a 911 dispatch to a familiar Cleveland Street address about 10 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2019.

Barbieri had encountered suspect Raymond Schachner Jr. before and the dispatcher said Schachner’s father had called for help because Schachner was high on heroin and acting erratically.

"You could hear screaming coming from the rear house," said Barbieri, upon his arrival.

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Matthew Barbieri takes the stand on Aug. 24, 2022.

The arrest was recorded on security camera video and Barbieri explained his actions as the video was played in Judge Kenneth Gottlieb’s Broward County courtroom.

At first, Barbieri is seen entering the room and looking around, "to make sure there's nobody dead on the floor like his father," he said.

Schachner is naked in the bathroom and starts yelling the minute he sees Barbieri.

"He wasn't taking a shower,” Barbieri said. “He was shooting up heroin."

Schachner is handcuffed behind his back and continues to scream and struggle, begging police not to arrest him without any clothes on.

Barbieri cautiously starts to look for a pair of shorts in a pile of clothing while Schachner warns there might be a syringe in the pockets.

“As I'm picking up shorts, I'm aware there may be a needle in the pockets of the shorts,” he said. “When Schachner told me there might be a needle in there I put the shorts down and kept looking.”

He eventually found a pair of shorts with no pockets and put them on Schachner.

NBC 6 anchor Cherney Ahmara has more on what the officer had to say during a Wednesday court hearing.

Barbieri checked the bathroom and found two baggies of heroin, a syringe, and a belt used for injections.

Schachner is yelling police don’t have a search warrant to seize the drugs.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Nobody gave you permission to search the house,” Schachner is heard on video. “There's no warrant, no nothing. There's no permission."

The handcuffed and naked Schachner got up and moved toward Barbieri in the bathroom..

"I felt he tugged at my gun belt and that's not an easy feeling,” Barbieri testified. “So, I put him back down on the ground."

During the search, Schachner is still yelling and “twisting and turning” before he kicks Officer Dionte Roots in the leg.

"I forcefully picked him off the ground because he committed a felony against a police officer," Barbieri said.

Schachner appears to lunge at Barbieri who said he thought he was about to receive a head butt, so he slapped Schachner to get his attention.

"The least amount of force in this situation is an open hand slap and you aim for the side of the neck to stun and interrupt his resistance to us," Barbieri said.

It didn’t work.

"My reaction was to strike him again with an open palm and it worked," he said.

Then Barbieri put his left hand on Schachner’s throat.

“I grabbed him by the neck to ease him to the floor,” he said.

Barbieri is heard in the video asking, “Do I have permission now?” to search the bathroom for heroin.

He admitted he said it out of “slight frustration.”

As he’s being taken to a police car, Schachner is heard yelling "I want you to know you're on camera. I got you this time."

Barbieri didn’t know there was a security camera in the room, initially.

"I'm glad there was," he testified.

On cross examination, Barbieri denied punching or choking Schachner. He called the slaps a brachial stun aimed at carotid artery to incapacitate a suspect.

"I never put my hand around his throat. I never choked him," he said. "I put my hand under his jaw to ease him to the ground."

As for Schachner's claims there was no consent to search his room, Barbieri said he didn't need one. He was answering a 911 call from Schachner's father who owned the home. Barbieri spoke with him after the arrest.

"I told him, unfortunately I had to strike his son," he testified.

The defense rested its case and closing arguments are scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday.

Barbieri is charged with misdemeanor battery. He is on administrative leave from the police department, according to his lawyer. If convicted he faces up to a year in jail.

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