Miami Police Union Says Head-Kicking Cop “Used Great Restraint,” Shouldn’t Be Charged
Hours after Miami Police Officer Mario Figueroa was charged with misdemeanor assault today after film surfaced of the cop trying to kick a handcuffed man in the head, the city’s police union released a doozy of a statement defending Figueroa and insisting he hadn’t broken the law or department policy.
According to the police union, Figueroa’s attempted face-punting was, in fact, a “de-escalation technique” that proved Figueroa “showed great restraint.” You read that right.
“While some have characterized this as police brutality, it couldn’t be farther from the truth,” newly minted union president Edward Lugo, who once nearly lost his job after getting caught in a 2009 FBI sting, wrote in a multiparagraph letter this afternoon. “The only thing brutal about this entire incident is the suspect that endangered the lives of the community in which our Miami Police officers risked their lives to take this dangerous man off the streets. From the onset, the media stated that Officer Figueroa had kicked the suspect on the head.”
