Officers Forced To Taze Driver After Traffic Stop On Miami Beach
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) -- Dozens of witnesses watched police on Miami Beach pull a man out of his vehicle and taze him after they said he failed to comply during a traffic stop.
Video captured the scene on Ocean Drive and 9th Street Saturday night.
The man on the ground was identified as Pierre Williams, 38. The incident started as a traffic stop as Williams was driving northbound. According to an arrest report, Williams ignored officers' multiple verbal and physical attempts to stop the vehicle.
At one point, officers were able to reach into his car and put it in park and turned off the ignition.
The report goes on to say Williams refused to comply "forcefully bracing and tensing his body and pulling away from officers."
"He began reaching with his right hand in between the front passenger seat and the center console for some unknown item," Miami Beach Police said.
While a struggle ensued to remove Williams from behind the wheel, he struck several officers. It eventually took six officers to get him out and tazed him multiple times in an attempt to handcuff him. At one point, officers said he reached for his waistband as if he was reaching for a weapon.
He was finally cuffed and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital.
The incident comes on the heels of a heated battle between Ocean Drive business owners, residents and policy makers, who, after the violence on Urban beach weekend, are calling to end alcohol sales at 2:00 a.m. and restrict the noise.
It's created some tension between City Hall and the police department.
Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez questioned policing on Ocean Drive and the leadership of police Chief Dan Oates, calling for him to step down and "give the cops back their bullets" and "remove their body cams" so that "maybe they will start policing again."
A response from the city manager read: "A true professional officer should welcome discipline, and should embrace the accountability and transparency that body cameras bring."
Those cameras that most likely captured this incident in its entirety.
Officers did not find any weapons in Williams's car.