Man jumps on a police car and punches an officer in the face, Miami Beach cops say
As two Miami Beach police officers walked back to their cars after patrolling a stretch of the beach on foot, they spotted man on the roof of one of their cars.
The man jumped up and down on the roof and then poured an unknown liquid out of a bottle onto the car, police said.
When the officers got to the car, the man, later identified as 27-year-old Damien McNeal, jumped off and tried to walk away, according to police.
McNeal, police said, “resisted officers and began struggling with officers by pulling away, tensing up, pushing and swinging his hands in an aggressive manner...”.
In the process, McNeal punched an officer in the cheek, police said.
McNeal was arrested on charges including battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with violence and criminal mischief.
The incident happened around 6 p.m. Saturday in the area of 10th Street and Ocean Drive.
A witness told police she saw McNeal get on top of the police car while arguing with friends, an officer wrote in McNeal’s arrest report.
“She stated he was being very loud and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance,” the officer wrote. “During the struggle, I did perceive a strong odor of alcohol emitting from the defendant’s person. The defendant’s actions were irrational, which indicated he may have also been under the influence of other unknown substances.”
According to police, McNeal’s family told officers that he “was drunk as he had been consuming alcoholic beverages all day.”
Over the weekend, another man was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief after stomping on a police car in a separate incident.
Miami police say Cristhian La Place Torres, of Orlando, posted a video on Instagram to his nearly 200,000 followers showing him jumping on a Key Biscayne police car.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 5:34 AM.
