Disturbing footage captured at Miami International Airport shows the moment a Miami-Dade Police Department officer sucker-punches a woman during a heated argument on July 1, the New York Post reports.
The footage was widely shared on social media after Florida resident and documentary filmmaker Billy Corben shared it with his near-80,000 Twitter followers.
Corben captioned the post: "#BREAKING: @MiamiDadePD cop hits woman at Miami International Airport @iflymia #BecauseMiami".
The upsetting footage can be seen in the tweet below:In the footage, officer Antonio Rodriguez can be seen arguing with a woman at Miami International Airport.
The woman then approaches Rodriguez, saying: "You’re black. You’re acting like you’re white but you’re really black."
Rodriguez is a black officer of Puerto Rican heritage, the Miami Herald reports. The woman in the video is also black.
"What are you going to do?" the woman adds.
At that moment, Rodriguez cocks his fist back and punches the woman in the face, causing people standing by to gasp. The two officers then place the woman on the ground and arrest her.
At the end of the video, a voice believed to be Rodriguez can be heard saying: "She headbutted me." However, the footage fails to prove this accusation.
It is still unknown what caused the argument.
Approximately 30 minutes after the video was posted online, Miami Police Department director Alfredo Ramirez took to Twitter to announce that the department has launched an investigation into the officers’ conduct.
Ramirez wrote: "I am shocked and angered by a body cam video that I just saw involving one of our officers.
"I’ve immediately initiated an investigation and ordered that the involved officers be relieved of duty.
"Actions such as these undermine the hard work that we have invested in our community and causes my heart to break for our community and for the vast majority of our officers who dedicate their lives to serving our County. This will not stand, and I assure our community that any officer acting in this vain will be held to account.
"I have also just spoken to our State Attorney [Katherine Fernandez Rundle] and asked that her office immediately become involved in the investigation."
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez also responded to the footage on Twitter, writing:
"This is appalling. It’s excessive use of force and unnecessary. That’s NOT what our @MiamiDadePD are trained to do.
"@MDPD_Director Ramirez has ordered the officer relieved of duty & investigation is underway.
"This is why I instituted body cameras & MDPD is reviewing all footage."
The identity of the woman in the video has not been revealed.
