The Miami-Dade Police Department is currently reviewing video of a violent altercation between a disorderly University of Miami fan and a cop who was escorting her out of the stadium Saturday.
Bridget Freitas, a 30-year-old nurse, has been charged with battery of a police officer after authorities say she backhand-slapped a male cop. Video footage shows that the officer immediately retaliated, punching Freitas square in the face.
According to the Sun Sentinel, the arrest affidavit indicates that Freitas struck the male cop “in the face while attempting to get away, causing the detective to strike Freitas in her face to gain compliance and control.”
The report also indicates that Freitas was causing a disturbance at the game, “arguing with stadium patrons and using profanity in a loud boisterous manner.”
The name of the detective who punched Freitas hasn’t been released. Video of the altercation has circulated widely on social media, causing Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta to release an email Sunday stating that the department will review the video to ensure that officers followed the proper protocol, according to the New York Daily News.
In the video, Freitas can be seen swinging wildly at the cop before striking him across his face. He then punches her hard enough to make her head snap back and elicit a response from the crowd.
I mean ...
I can think of very few things that are more outright stupid than slapping a damn cop, and I’m someone who still has a scar on her chin because, as a child, I once tried to use a body pillow as a jump rope substitute.
What Freitas apparently did, however loose of the juice she might have been, was outright dumb—and likely came from a place of privilege and intoxication (ah, what a wild cocktail that is). But I’m not altogether convinced of Miami-Dade PD’s claim that the male officer struck Freitas in her face “to gain compliance and control.”
The video shows that there are four officers holding each of her limbs and lifting her up and out of the stadium: She wasn’t going anywhere, and with 4-on-1 odds, there is clearly only one party in control.
I’m no expert on police protocol, but I know what it looks like when someone’s had enough of your shit, which is exactly what that officer’s right cross looked like.
Freitas has yet to comment on the incident.
Read more at the Sun Sentinel and the New York Daily News.