Miami police officer caught on camera smacking cellphone from man's hand

Emanuel Williams, 30, says officers involved in arrest went too far

MIAMI – A 30-year-old man who was arrested over the weekend in Miami's Overtown neighborhood feels the three City of Miami police officers involved in his arrest went too far.

Cellphone video taken Saturday shows several officers speaking to the man who is holding the camera.

The man was identified in his arrest affidavit as Emanuel David Williams.

In the video, you can hear officers telling Williams to back up and go to the sidewalk.

Despite him being vocal with the officers, Williams does listen to their commands while continuing to film, the video shows.

Then one of the officers smacks the phone out of Williams' hand, yelling something that sounds like, "Enough with the phone in my face." Williams was then taken into custody.

According to the arrest affidavit, officers were there because Williams' ex-girlfriend called police to escort her to their apartment so she could retrieve some of her belongings.

The affidavit states that Williams showed up and was "behaving belligerently (and) causing a disturbance."

He was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence, both of which are misdemeanors. 

"The City of Miami Police Department is aware of a cellular phone video surfacing on social media showing our uniformed officers involved in an arrest with a suspect who was filming. Our Internal Affairs Section is also aware and investigating the circumstances that led up to the video," Officer Kenia Fallat, a spokeswoman for the police department, said in a statement.  


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