Officer Arrests Crime Victim For Being Emotional

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers de-escalation training the Baker Act and officer misconduct and was curated by the vatos eyes channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve let's dive right in and audit the interaction on March 5th 2019 Miami resident dyma loving called 9-1-1 to report that she and her friend Adrian green were threatened by a man with a gun the Miami Dade Police Department dispatched several officers to the scene including officer Alejandro Geraldo officer Geraldo made contact with Miss loving and miss green on a street corner near the location of the incident but what I'm trying to figure out is at which point you actually stay on scene notice the accusation on nature of the officers questioning it is clear that the officers already have a version of events in mind that they are attempting to verify and they're not treating miss loving or miss green as if they are victims of a crime each department has their own policy in regards to victim response and how to properly interact with victimized members of the public but in 1999 the International Association of Chiefs of Police teamed up with the office for victims of crime the office of Justice programs and the Department of Justice to create an organizational strategy for enhancing the response to victims of crime which law enforcement departments are encouraged to follow the strategy details seven guidelines for police officers to follow when interacting with victims of crime here is director of the Fairfax County Victim Services Unit Carol Ellis discussing the element of victim safety one of the major critical needs that victims have is a for a sense of safety in the immediate aftermath of the crime they need to know that they are safe from the perpetrator they're vulnerable they're confused and in many instances they have been traumatized so I consider and and many victims do consider as well that safety is probably the first and primary critical need after a victimization the miami-dade officers failed to even treat miss loving and miss green as victims much less secure their sense of safety okay so now so he calls you you call them at which point if you see him going back he didn't go in the house you had that struggle with oh no is he bent down picked it up and told me was gonna shoot me that's what he told me he never went in the house we were right there y'all need to do something oh yeah you need to chill out sorry right now okay I'm gonna give you one more chance if you don't calm down I'm gonna bring you in patrol officers of the miami-dade Police Department undergo an intensive 40 hour training program developed by their in-house crisis intervention team to learn how to respond to the mentally ill in crisis the curriculum includes role-playing mediation skills nonviolent intervention techniques psychotropic medication and symptom identification an article published in the Journal of police crisis negotiations highlights certain behaviors to avoid during de-escalation citing quote intervening officers should try to not allow their feelings to interfere with their professionalism and should always focus on the behaviors of the individual in crisis the officer should be courteous and use words and phrases such as please and thank you and officers should never take the individual's words or actions personally and should always remember that he or she is in crisis officer Geraldo failed to employ any measure of de-escalation tactics and created an environment of hostility by threatening a citizen in crisis screaming again freaking time okay you are acting this orderly you will be arrested okay get it right face okay we're gonna help you out you know what she needs to be Baker acted here anything the Baker Act is a Florida law that enables families and loved ones to provide emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people who are impaired because of their mental illness and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment the Act is named after Maxine Baker a former Miami state representative who sponsored the act in 1972 people who require the use of the Baker Act have often lost the power of self-control and they are likely to inflict harm to themselves or others officer Geraldo is suggesting that Miss loving should be hospitalized against her will because of the distress she is experiencing from having her life threatened a gun pointed in her face and not being allowed to return to her sick child according to the Baker Act Emanuel law enforcement officers in the state of Florida do have the authority to involuntarily deliver a person to a receiving facility for a mental examination however the officer must execute a written report detailing the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody it is highly unlikely that any medical professional would declare miss Lovings mentally unfit for having an emotional reaction to her life being threatened miss green is thrown to the ground taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct due to the graphic nature of the event I have omitted the footage of the actual arrest but it is available to watch in the full version of the incident which is linked in the description below she refused in multiple times therefore she was put in custody for that all right I understand she is a very upset against after child but an investigation is going on and she has to comply with my partner's orders when she doesn't comply with his orders that's what happens that's understandable but were you talking oh I gave you that okay now you got to remember this remember okay we are conducting a crime if you'll tell you me somebody pointed a gun at you it is a crime one the officers wait until after they have escalated the interaction to the point of an arrest to admit that a crime may have occurred at no point did officer Geraldo treat miss Greene or miss loving like victims of a crime yet he had the audacity to say that he was only trying to investigate a crime and insinuate that his actions were in the best interest of the victims second if she is a victim give us a second maybe do my investigation will take it you know from here understanding the emotional state of a victim is part of an investigation and miss Lovings emotional outburst is a failure to properly investigate if the victim of a crime is acting disorderly it is the duty of responding officers to act as the first line of mental affirmation and make a concerted effort to comfort that victim not arrest them it is not the amount of times that he needs to ask her it is the manner in which he needs to ask her if officer Geraldo had asked Miss loving to calm down in an understanding reaffirming and sociable way then she may have been more inclined to trust his intentions instead officer Geraldo shouted commands at Miss loving and threatened her with the rest if she didn't cooperate people don't call me now they're looking out he's doing anything for that not everything that happened kind of fast I don't know but you were kind of in the wrong - as well because you could have went about it this statement is a testament to officer Geraldo's lack of training as it demonstrates that he never even considered whether a peaceful resolution to this interaction existed in the officers mind he had the choice of either using his Taser on Miss loving or simply arresting her you could have went about it differently - as well because like that was crazy he was very understandable he had it he had a way with you when when he was doing it I don't believe that so I don't care scratch that on to the next to be out today the miami-dade police officers failed to bring charges against the man who brandished the shotgun until two days after Miss Lovings arrest went viral miss loving went on to sue the department and managed to collect 50,000 signatures on a petition calling for a Geraldo to be fired and arrested after the video was released officer Geraldo was suspended without pay the following month Geraldo was arrested for official misconduct for lying on a police report and misdemeanor battery Geraldo initially hired an attorney to fight the case but was eventually appointed a public defender due to his inability to pay after months of not receiving a paycheck miss Lovings lawsuit is still ongoing and Geraldo's criminal trial is set for october overall officer Geraldo gets an F for failing to treat miss green and miss loving as victims of a crime threatening and provoking a crime victim in a state of crisis and arresting miss loving for having an emotional response to her present situation officer Geraldo failed to fulfill his duty to the commune in almost every way during this interaction from the very start he was confrontational accusation 'el and inflammatory and uses authority to suppress miss loving instead of aiding her officer geraldo disregarded fundamental elements of de-escalation training and allowed miss loving stress induced mental instability to eclipse the actual crime that occurred the only thing that Officer geraldo managed to accomplish during this interaction was make miss loving into a victim of two criminals instead of one miss loving was in a state of distress and it is difficult to assign an accurate grade to her reactionary response it could be argued that if miss loving had remained calm then the situation may not have escalated to an arrest but it could equally be argued that Miss loving state of mind and officer Geraldo's actions made that nearly impossible one thing is for certain miss loving was unjustly arrested and deserves compensation for the mental trauma she endured at the hands of officer Geraldo I give Miss loving an a for following up this encounter with legal action and generating the social capital needed to have officer Geraldo arrested it is becoming increasingly more common for victims of police misconduct to receive a settlement but holding police officers accountable for their actions is still an uphill battle it is refreshing to see an interaction that results in both compensation for the victim and accountability for the officer let us know if there's an interaction or legal topic you would like us to cover in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to Like and subscribe for more police interaction content [Music]

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 510,776

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: CgS9nB9HC9Y

Length: 14min 41sec (881 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 27 2019