North Miami, Fl. – A Miami-Dade police officer has been placed on administrative desk duty and is under investigation after he was caught on video telling a Black man “this is how you guys get killed out here” during a traffic stop.
The incident occurred last Wednesday when 29-year-old Gerardson Nicolas was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. Nicolas told NBC Miami that he started recording the encounter after the officer who pulled him over reached inside his car and pulled the keys out of the ignition.
In the video, Nicolas tells the officer, who’s name has not yet been made public, that he was on his way to work.
“No, you’re not going to work,” the officer says. “You’re gonna give me your driver’s license.”
Nicolas said he was driving his mother’s car and was having difficulty finding his driver’s license and the vehicle’s registration.
The officer tells Nicolas, “Give me your driver’s license, registration and insurance. If not, you will not be going to work today. Simple thing, man. This is how you guys get killed out here, man.”
“What? Say that again? Say what you just said,” Nicolas responds in the video.
“Registration and insurance,” the officer responds.
Nicolas told NBC Miami that he feared for his safety during the encounter, “I was like, I’m gonna die. That’s what I was thinking.”
“I was scared, I was scared. I didn’t think my life was going to make it,” he told NBC 6 on Monday. “When he asked me for my license, open the door, I started recording. I was looking for my stuff, my license because I didn’t see my wallet. I was looking for my wallet and 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 Miami-Dade Police Department issued a statement on Monday saying it has started an internal affairs investigation into the traffic stop. The statement said investigators will be reviewing the “the traffic stop, the officer’s comments, and conduct.”
“Rest assured we are committed to transparency and community trust and will address all matters of public concern equitably, fairly, and in accordance with applicable laws,” it said.
Steadman Stahl, the president of the police union that represents the Miami-Dade Police Department, said he does not believe the officer’s statements were racially motivated.
“It appears that the officer is referencing people who die due to not wearing a seat belt,” said Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association. “The only reference to race appears to be coming from the way this incident is being portrayed, not from the officer.”
The Miami-Dade Police Department said they will release the officer’s body-cam footage after the Internal Affairs investigation is complete.
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