Sweetwater police officer arrested on domestic-violence charge in Homestead
A Sweetwater police officer was arrested last month on one charge of domestic violence-related battery after he allegedly slapped his girlfriend on the face and fled from police.
Gary Becker, 30, was arrested November 15 by Homestead police. He has been reassigned to “desk duty” in Sweetwater at full pay in accordance with contractual obligations. He will remain unarmed and without arrest powers until an administrative investigation is complete, according to Sweetwater Chief Placido Diaz.
Homestead police responded to a call from Becker’s girlfriend at around 5:50 p.m. that night. They arrived to find the woman with “visible redness” and “a small welt under her left eye and cheek,” according to the arrest report. She told police that she got into a verbal argument with Becker at a family members’ house in Sweetwater earlier that day. They couldn’t decide where to eat and as a result, Becker tried to leave with their son.
He eventually left without the son, and texted his girlfriend: “Don’t go hoe, it will end bad.”
When the woman returned to their shared Homestead house, she put her two children to bed and saw Becker inside, packing his belongings. He called her a “stupid bitch” and slapped her on the left side of her face, according to the report.
The couple have lived together for six years and have two children together.
The woman called 911 and Becker left in his car. She told officers that Becker made statements earlier that day saying he wanted to commit suicide. According to the arrest report, officers were able to locate Becker after making a visit to his father’s house and then calling him on the phone, telling him he needed to turn himself in to Homestead police.
He turned himself in at around 10 that night, and refused to provide a statement. He was not questioned by Homestead police.
He did not respond to multiple attempts to reach him for comment.
Sweetwater police did not immediately respond to requests for Becker’s years of service or record with the department.
According to a Facebook post by Sweetwater police Major John “JP” Wrves, Becker was promoted to be a supervisor in September 2019.
Earlier that year, Becker was caught on a Ring security camera punching a man several times in the face during a search for the man’s brother, who police say hit an officer with his vehicle. Diaz defended Becker at the time, saying that the first punch was thrown by the civilian, hitting the officer. The man’s family disputed the account.
One of the men was arrested and charged with resisting an officer with violence and resisting without violence. The other was also arrested and charged with resisting an officer with violence, battery on a police officer and resisting arrest without violence.
Diaz told the Miami Herald that the department is taking the domestic violence charge “very seriously” but noted that there are “conflicting stories.” He said once a criminal investigation is finished there will be a separate, administrative investigation.
“We don’t want to hurt anyone, one side or the other,” he said, noting the department’s best practices training protocol. “I am confident we are stellar ... we hold our officers to a higher standard than ever.”
Before serving in Sweetwater, Becker served on the City of Miami’s police force in 2013 for six months before resigning. He was never reprimanded, according to a Miami Police Department spokesman.
