Newly released bodycam footage shows Fort Lauderdale police officers laughing after hitting Black Lives Matter protestors with rubber bullets at a May 31st rally following the death of George Floyd.
Detective Zachary Baro, leader of a Fort Lauderdale SWAT team unit, said "Beat it, little f***er" after officers shot the rubber bullets at a protestor.
The Miami Herald reports that the protestor in question was walking away after throwing a tear gas canister back at the line of police.
Watch the footage of the officers laughing:Another officer, Jamie Chatman, approached Detective Baro behind the line of police to ask if his body camera was switched off, and he incorrectly said that it was in "standby mode" and not recording.
In response, the officers began to laugh and joke about the protestors they had just shot.
"Did you see me f**k up those motherf****rs?" one of the officers said.
"I got the one f***er," the other replied, laughing.
George Kirkham, a former police officer, and professor emeritus at Florida State University, condemned the officers' behavior.
"This is serious misconduct. This is people with badges acting like thugs," Kirkham said. "It's like a cancer. If you let it go, it will spread."
When asked for a comment by the Miami Herald, a spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale police said the department would have to review the bodycam footage.
This comes as unrest continues to unfold across the US, as protests - some peaceful, some violent - are calling out the systemic injustices carried out against black people, not least seen by the recent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
As well as a call for justice, these ongoing protests are also demanding an end to police brutality and the racism that is so deeply entrenched in America and the western world.
The message is simple: Black lives matter.
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