Miami police investigating detainment of doctor who gives homeless virus tests, chief says
Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said the department will be investigating the detainment of a University of Miami doctor, who helps test the homeless for the novel coronavirus, outside his home on Friday.
In a video posted on Miami police’s social media Saturday afternoon, Colina said the detainment of Dr. Armen Henderson for offloading his van outside his Flagami home will be looked into.
“The City of Miami Police Department does not condone or accept profiling of any kind,” Colina said. “I’m making that statement because I’ve been made aware of a video that has been circulating of an encounter that occurred on Friday, April 10, in the Flagami neighborhood.”
Colina says what caused Henderson’s detainment by a City of Miami sergeant Friday morning was a “litany of complaints pertaining to illegal dumping.”
He says the cargo van Henderson was using appeared to be offloading trash in front of a Flagami home. Colina would not say what happened during the interaction between the officer and Henderson that led to his detainment.
The home that Henderson was allegedly dumping trash in front of was his own.
Henderson told the Miami Herald that on Friday morning, a Miami police officer told him he was patrolling the area after hearing reports that people were dumping trash.
After telling the officer he was just unloading his van and not showing his ID, Henderson was put in handcuffs
“He said, ‘You should refer to me as sir, or sergeant when talking to me.’ I never said I was a doctor. But I didn’t cuss. He just grabbed my arms and cuffed me,” Henderson said.
A video of the altercation shows Henderson taking items out of his van when a Miami police officer pulls up next to him. After a discussion, which cannot be heard on the video, the officer handcuffed Henderson.
The video does appear to be edited and skips when the officer gets out of his car. The Herald was not able to confirm whether it was edited or a lagging of the security camera.
On March 28, the Herald wrote about Henderson and dozens of volunteers roaming the streets of Miami with nasal swabs testing the homeless for COVID-19. Along with tests, they also gave out camping tents.
As of Saturday morning, Florida had more than 18,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and over 400 deaths. Miami-Dade county was leading the state in both cases and deaths, having reported over 6,000 cases and 91 deaths.
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