Miami officer under scrutiny for using headlock to subdue a man after a traffic stop

Cellphone video of three city of Miami officers wrestling a shirtless Black man in the street after a weekend traffic stop shows one officer appearing to strike him at least three times before applying a headlock.

Acting Miami Police Chief Ron Papier said the rough arrest, captured by a bystander and first obtained by WPLG Channel 10, is now under review by the department’s Internal Affairs unit.

Department policy forbids the use of neck restraints unless intended as deadly force to save lives. Miami police also want to know about something else on the videotape captured after the melee — what appeared to be a brief but heated exchange between one of the arresting cops and a Miami-Dade County officer there to assist.

In a prepared statement, Papier did not specifically mention the headlock but said force was used because the man, 25-year-old Leskeil Richards, was actively resisting officers. Richards had been in a car that one officer, according to an arrest report, first began following when it seemed to be speeding and had its windows down.

“Pursuant to its internal investigation, the Miami Police Department is actively reviewing all video and testimonial evidence related to the use of force and will take appropriate action if any violations are identified,” said the acting chief.

The legal problems for Richards — charged with battery on a police officer, resisting with and without violence and faking his identity after the traffic stop — are only going to get more complicated. Monday evening, police said he had escaped from detention at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was being evaluated for undisclosed injuries.

Miami police spokesman Michael Vega said Richards “escaped from his restraints and ran from officers” just before 6 p.m. After hours of searching, he was not located. Vega said Richards is “considered dangerous.”

Long before George Floyd’s death under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer and last summer’s subsequent social justice protests, the Miami Police Department had been among the first to prohibit neck restraints or chokeholds. They were banned in Miami after a 1992 traffic stop in which a 24-year-old being detained by police went into a coma and later died.

The Miami Herald published a story last summer at the height of the protests revealing that two of Miami-Dade’s largest police departments, Miami-Dade and Hialeah, continued to employ the controversial restraint tactic which restricts air flow. After the story, county Police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez forbid chokeholds. So did Hialeah. A week later Ramirez was lauded by U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson and others during a 5000 Role Models of Excellence event at Hard Rock Stadium.

The arrest under scrutiny occurred Sunday in Liberty City. Early Monday, in response to a growing chorus of complaints stemming from Channel 10’s initial report, Miami police released Richards’ arrest form and another document that police weren’t aware of until after the skirmish on the street.

Richard had a pending warrant for arrest. It is from September in Broward County, charging Richards violated the terms of his parole for robbery, battery and carrying a concealed firearm convictions by leaving his confined residence and by removing his ankle monitor. Richards couldn’t be reached for comment Monday and it was unclear if he had an attorney.

The arresting officer, identified only as tactical robbery detective M. Sevilla, said he made a U-turn on Northwest 62nd Street after noticing a Land Rover “moving faster than the normal flow of traffic” with its windows down. He also reported seeing someone in the front seat not wearing a seatbelt. The officer said when the vehicle didn’t come to a complete stop at a red light, he turned on his siren and the driver pulled over.

As he approached the Land Rover, the officer said he noticed Richards — who he claimed to see climbing from the front seat to the back before the vehicle was pulled over — “pretending” to be asleep in the back seat. The officer ordered him out of the car after Richards said he didn’t have any identification. For his own safety, Sevilla said he patted down Richards, who was wearing only gym shorts and white socks.

When the officer, according to the arrest report, said Richards appeared to be looking for an avenue of escape, he took him to the ground. More force was used, the officer said, as Richards dug his fingers into another officer’s wrist. He was finally handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol car. Sevilla said Richards at first gave a fake name, but police were able to use new fingerprint technology to identify him.

There is no mention anywhere in the police report of an officer using any blows or type of neck restraint on Richards.

The video shows three officers grappling with Richards, with one appearing to deliver several blows toward Richards’ head and also shows an officer holding him in a firm headlock. The woman recording the scuffle is heard commenting, “Why is he punching him?” Near the end of the video, the officer who had Richards in a headlock is seen having a terse conversation with a Miami-Dade police officer who was there to assist.

Tommy Reyes, president of Miami’s Fraternal Order of Police, cautioned that before any decision is made, investigators need to review the totality of the arrest.

“When you’re in a high stress situation and when someone is resisting arrest, especially with no shirt on, it leaves you with minimal options for controlling the person,” said Reyes.

But one expert on police tactics questioned the need for a headlock. Geoff Alpert, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said as departments have done away with chokeholds over the years, police are taught a variety of less lethal options to subdue a suspect.

“Why would you use a neck restraint? And for what, fleeing from a traffic stop?” Alpert asked. “That kind of basic language just doesn’t cut it anymore,” he said referring to the arrest report.