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Police in Miami say they felt so threatened by a 14-year-old boy’s “body language” and “dehumanizing stares” that they had no choice but to put him in a choke hold and arrest him.
According to reports, Tremaine McMillian was “roughhousing” with a friend when Miami-Dade Police officers approached them and ordered them to stop fighting.
Here’s where things get sketchy.
The officers reportedly realized that there was no actual fighting going on, however, they still asked McMillian to identify where his mother was.
The teen says he did as he was told, but Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta argues he refused to cooperate and started walking away.
It was as he was leaving the beach area that police apparently sensed an imminent “threat” based on the teen’s “body language” and “dehumanizing stares.” They soon had the boy on the ground in a chokehold.
“When he started to leave the beach area, officers had to get off their ATVs to detain him. He had closed arms, clenched fists and pulled his arm away,” Zabaleta told CBS Miami.
McMillian says it would have been impossible for him to clench his fists in an intimidating manner because he was holding his 6-week-old pit bull mix puppy at the time and feeding him with a bottle.
“He started choking me, and as he was choking me, I urinated on myself because I couldn’t breathe,” the 14-year-old later said in juvenile court.
He also claims his puppy was injured after officers took him to the ground. Police said they were not concerned with the puppy, but rather the “threat” to the officer.
McMillian was slapped with a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence as well as a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.
Do you think police used excessive force in this case?
According to reports, Tremaine McMillian was “roughhousing” with a friend when Miami-Dade Police officers approached them and ordered them to stop fighting.
Here’s where things get sketchy.
The officers reportedly realized that there was no actual fighting going on, however, they still asked McMillian to identify where his mother was.
The teen says he did as he was told, but Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta argues he refused to cooperate and started walking away.
It was as he was leaving the beach area that police apparently sensed an imminent “threat” based on the teen’s “body language” and “dehumanizing stares.” They soon had the boy on the ground in a chokehold.
“When he started to leave the beach area, officers had to get off their ATVs to detain him. He had closed arms, clenched fists and pulled his arm away,” Zabaleta told CBS Miami.
McMillian says it would have been impossible for him to clench his fists in an intimidating manner because he was holding his 6-week-old pit bull mix puppy at the time and feeding him with a bottle.
“He started choking me, and as he was choking me, I urinated on myself because I couldn’t breathe,” the 14-year-old later said in juvenile court.
He also claims his puppy was injured after officers took him to the ground. Police said they were not concerned with the puppy, but rather the “threat” to the officer.
McMillian was slapped with a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence as well as a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.
Do you think police used excessive force in this case?
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