Trial set for Miami Beach cop charged with beating tourist who struck cop with scooter
Almost two years after five Miami Beach police officers were charged with punching and kicking two men during a pair of violent arrests in a hotel lobby — one of the men was beaten while videotaping the other — the first of four expected trials is set to get underway.
On Tuesday, attorneys representing Miami Beach Police Officer Kevin Perez will begin choosing a jury that will determine whether Perez committed third-degree felony battery for his part in the violent arrests of Dalonta Crudup and Khalid Vaughn. State prosecutors contend that Perez, who pleaded not guilty, is seen kicking Crudup repeatedly in the head while he was handcuffed and on the ground.
The battering of the men — which was captured on surveillance video and made international headlines — was sparked by a split-second encounter between Crudup and a Miami Beach police officer. Crudup, who was in town visiting from Maryland, had parked his motor scooter illegally on South Beach. As he tried to run from a ticket, he struck an officer with the bike severely enough that the officer wound up briefly hospitalized and on crutches.
The incident quickly mushroomed into violence, and later debate. Dozens of officers responding to radio alerts began tracking Crudup as he headed north, first on his bike, then on foot. Then shortly after the arrests, the public would learn of a controversial new Miami Beach law that critics contend is a First Amendment fiasco and is now all but dormant.
The trial comes eight months after Sgt. Jose Perez avoided jail time by taking a plea that included six months probation and retirement. The three other officers involved, Robert Sabater, Steven Serrano and David Rivas, all have pending cases and have been charged with misdemeanor battery. Additionally, Serrano has been charged with official misconduct for allegedly writing a bogus police report.
Perez’s attorney Robert Buschel declined to comment. But Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police President Bobby Hernandez said union reps will attend the trial in support of their colleague. Perez remains a Miami Beach police officer, but has been suspended without pay since his arrest.
“We have an obligation to make sure he’s represented and that due process plays out,” Hernandez said. “We don’t necessarily just look at the video and make decisions, because there are lots of variables.”
Crudup, 26, was initially charged with battery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. The charges were reduced and he is now awaiting trial on counts of fleeing and eluding police and reckless driving. And initial charges of resisting and interfering with an officer against Vaughn — who was punched and kicked by officers as he videotaped Crudup’s arrest — were dropped.
Within a week of Crudup and Vaughn’s beatings, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements announced the charges against the officers.
During the press conference to announce the charges, the state attorney showed a four-minute video clip in which 21 officers descended on and chased Crudup into the South Beach hotel. The clip showed one officer repeatedly kicking the handcuffed man in the head and another cop picking him up and slamming his head to the ground. The officers then redirected their attention to Vaughn, who was slammed into a concrete pillar, then repeatedly punched and elbowed in the head and rib cage while on the ground.
“Excessive force can never, ever be an acceptable solution,” Fernandez Rundle said at the time.
The events that led to this week’s trial began after dark on July 26, 2021, when police thought they were ready for the throngs of out-of-town guests staying on South Beach during Rolling Loud — one of the largest and most popular hip-hop gatherings in the country. Miami Beach commissioners — who had been skewered publicly for a series of messy and sometimes violent spring breaks and Memorial Day Weekends — rolled out a new ordinance: Police could now arrest anyone who interrupted or got too close to officers who were doing their jobs on the street.
The plan almost immediately backfired as officers used the new law to make about a dozen arrests that month — almost all of Black tourists videotaping police as they worked. The outrage was immediate. Over the next six months nearly every case was dropped. Police now rarely, if ever, enforce the ordinance.
Amid the hoopla and crowds that weekend, Crudup, whose motor scooter was parked at 13th Street and Ocean Court, took off and struck the officer, then ditched the scooter and ran into the lobby of the Royal Palm South Beach Miami at 15th Street and Collins Avenue. By then, a radio alert had gone out and dozens of cops were chasing Crudup as he made his way north. Inside the hotel lobby surveillance cameras captured the officers pummeling him even as he was handcuffed.
The beating of Vaughn, 28, who was tackled, punched and kicked by officers as he used his smartphone to videotape Crudup’s beating, was also captured on surveillance video. Vaughn said he simply started videotaping as he saw a horde of officers enter the hotel lobby. Also arrested was Vaughn’s friend, Sharif Cobb, who was punched by an officer after filming them waiting outside the lobby for a jail transport vehicle. Charges against Cobb were also dropped.
This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 3:25 PM.
