Miami Beach cops slam spring breaker to the ground in rough arrest, video shows
The rough take down of a woman tourist by police officers in South Beach kicked off the opening weekend of spring break in the city.
The woman, identified by Miami Beach police as Alexis Galmon, 25, had been involved in a scuffle with security guards at the entrance of the city-sponsored spring break event space on the beach near 10th Street and Ocean Drive, a police spokesman said.
The Concord, North Carolina resident had been leaving the fenced-off event space about 7:13 p.m. when a group of five officers rushed toward her. One of the officers slammed her to the ground and pressed his knee on her back while he and the others handcuffed her. One responding officer was seen carrying a long gun.
The physical arrest was captured on video by the Miami Herald.
Police spokesman Officer Ernesto Rodriguez said Galmon was involved in a “physical altercation” with two security guards.
“The female subject was subsequently detained and arrested,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “The subject is tentatively facing a felony charge of battery on a person over the age of 65 as well as simple battery for the second victim.”
In an incident report obtained by the Herald, an officer stated that Galmon ignored police commands to place her hand behind her back and pulled her arms away when police tried arresting her.
The report said Galmon’s “aggressive behavior” amounted to resisting arrest. So an officer kicked her leg in order to “safely take Galmon to the ground.”
Security guards told police that Galmon slapped one of them in the neck area and punched another in the arm. She faces one felony charge of battery on a person older than 65 years old and two misdemeanors, simple battery and resisting arrest without violence.
Galmon’s friends told the Herald that the only crime she may have committed was becoming frustrated when officers placed hands on her. They said security guards had misplaced her purple backpack, containing personal items, and that she was asked to leave the bag at the entrance of the event in order to be granted access.
“They used their violence on a woman,” said one friend, who requested to be identified only by her first name, Alicia. “It took five of them, and there’s one of her. That’s messed up.”
A security guard told police that she did have Galmon’s bag, but refused to give it to her.
Alicia said Galmon is an “aspiring rapper” from North Carolina. Their group of about seven women friends, mostly from the Charlotte area, traveled to Miami Beach for spring break, she said.
“They wonder why we can’t trust the system now, look at what you are doing to us,” Alicia said. “We can’t enjoy ourselves and trust y’all with us.”
She said police should have de-escalated the situation and calmed down the woman in a nonviolent way.
“If we get rowdy, it’s OK to calm us down. We know how to calm down,” she said. “But then y’all turn around and slam her? Five, six against one? No, that’s messed up.”
Spring break has historically overwhelmed the city’s police resources in recent years. In 2018, some clubs shut down early amid stampedes on Ocean Drive and the police closed the MacArthur Causeway to incoming drivers.
Last year, spring break got so out of hand that police in riot gear fanned out across the beach, and city leaders called an emergency meeting to make the party “less fun.”
Friday’s arrest capped what had been a calm evening on the sands of South Beach. About a dozen police cars were parked about 200 feet from the shoreline, where hundreds of spring breakers, most of them black, danced and socialized.
“It’s nice, it’s black people,” said Alexsis Cannon, a 24-year-old Tennessee State student, about ten minutes before the arrest. “I love black people.”
Cannon and her friend, 23-year-old Kayla Campbell of the University of Memphis, had been trying to get inside the city’s three-block event space, dubbed “Myami Beach,” before it closed around 7 p.m.
But earlier on Friday, the space was mostly empty except for small clusters of spring breakers enjoying public volleyball and basketball courts, and the live music that blasted from two stages. A small lounge area operated by the Clevelander South Beach was the only vendor serving alcohol.
The events kicked off on Friday and will last the remainder of the weekend before starting back up on March 12. The second phase will run until March 22. Musical artists Travis Porter, O.T. Genasis and Lil’ Keed are scheduled to perform. The City Commission pledged $500,000 toward the events.
Dion Lewis, a 28-year-old business development manager living in Chicago, said he and his girlfriend stumbled upon the city’s event after visiting South Beach for vacation. But after having to walk three blocks to enter the event and then three blocks to the back of the space, where the alcohol was being served, Lewis said the city should have thought out its plan better.
“The guy at the front was like, ‘Hey this is kind of like a rough draft, like our first day,’” Lewis said. “But my thing is, if you’re going to have an event in Miami, in South Beach — a very expensive place — there should be no rough draft ever. If you’re going to have some city event, there should not be a rough draft.”
Before the police incident, City Manager Jimmy Morales and his chief of staff, Marcia Monserrat, stood outside the event space Friday evening brainstorming how to lure more spring breakers to the area the city set up for them.
Morales acknowledged that the city was struggling to fill its venue on its opening night, but noted that those inside were having fun, especially on the athletic courts.
Lorenzo De Leon Mapeso, a 22-year-old University of North Carolina at Charlotte student, wore a light blue Dwyane Wade “ViceWave” jersey as he played basketball on a temporary court installed directly on the beach.
He said it was “necessary” for the city to set up activities for spring breakers, who would otherwise just drink and bake in the sun. While fewer people attended the event than he expected, he predicted it would only get busier.
“Our school has an earlier spring break, so next week is probably going to be a lot bigger,” he said.
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 11:18 PM.
.JPG)