A Miami-Dade police officer was recorded telling a Black driver "this is how you guys get killed out here." Screengrab via TikTok
A Miami-Dade Police Department cop is on desk duty after being caught on video telling a Black motorist who was taking too long to hand over his documents, “This is how you guys get killed out here, man.”
The incident occurred last Wednesday, according to Miami-Dade Police, and was recorded and posted to TikTok by the driver.“I’m going to work,” the driver tells the cop at the start of the TikTok video, which features the caption “Being black in America is a crime, according to Miami Dade Police.” The video now has over 70,000 views and dozens of duets.“Give me your driver’s license, registration, and insurance,” the cop says to the driver. “If not, you will not be going to work today.”
The officer, who has not yet been named, can be seen standing by the driver’s-side window as the man begins looking for the papers. It has been widely reported that the man was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt.
“Simple thing, man,” the cop says as the driver rummages through his wallet. “This is how you guys get killed out here, man.”
“What? Say that again,” the driver says as he points his phone camera toward the cop. “What we get killed for?”The driver did not immediately respond to messages from VICE News. However, local NBC affiliate WTVJ identified him as Gerardson Nicolas, who told the station that he began recording because he feared for his life.
“I was scared,” he told WTVJ. “That wasn’t my car—that was my mom’s car—and I didn’t know where the registration was. I was looking, looking. He got mad.”The driver admitted that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the stop.
Detective Chris Thomas told VICE News the department was made aware of the video last week.“The officer’s patrol duty was changed to administrative desk duties pending a complete investigation of the traffic stop, the officer’s comments, and conduct,” the department said in a statement. The department also said it would be reviewing over 30 minutes of footage captured on the cop’s bodycam.For Black people in the U.S., routine traffic stops are more likely to turn deadly. From January 2017 through this April, police have killed 589 people, and Black people make up 28 percent of those deaths, according to the Guardian. In February, Kim Potter, the Minneapolis officer who killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in 2021, was sentenced to two years in prison. Grand Rapids, Michigan, officer Christopher Schurr, who shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in the head in April, was recently charged with second-degree murder.
The incident occurred last Wednesday, according to Miami-Dade Police, and was recorded and posted to TikTok by the driver.“I’m going to work,” the driver tells the cop at the start of the TikTok video, which features the caption “Being black in America is a crime, according to Miami Dade Police.” The video now has over 70,000 views and dozens of duets.
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The officer, who has not yet been named, can be seen standing by the driver’s-side window as the man begins looking for the papers. It has been widely reported that the man was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt.
“Simple thing, man,” the cop says as the driver rummages through his wallet. “This is how you guys get killed out here, man.”
“What? Say that again,” the driver says as he points his phone camera toward the cop. “What we get killed for?”The driver did not immediately respond to messages from VICE News. However, local NBC affiliate WTVJ identified him as Gerardson Nicolas, who told the station that he began recording because he feared for his life.
“I was scared,” he told WTVJ. “That wasn’t my car—that was my mom’s car—and I didn’t know where the registration was. I was looking, looking. He got mad.”The driver admitted that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the stop.
Detective Chris Thomas told VICE News the department was made aware of the video last week.“The officer’s patrol duty was changed to administrative desk duties pending a complete investigation of the traffic stop, the officer’s comments, and conduct,” the department said in a statement. The department also said it would be reviewing over 30 minutes of footage captured on the cop’s bodycam.For Black people in the U.S., routine traffic stops are more likely to turn deadly. From January 2017 through this April, police have killed 589 people, and Black people make up 28 percent of those deaths, according to the Guardian. In February, Kim Potter, the Minneapolis officer who killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in 2021, was sentenced to two years in prison. Grand Rapids, Michigan, officer Christopher Schurr, who shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya in the head in April, was recently charged with second-degree murder.