A South Florida woman is seeking justice against a Miami-Dade police officer, saying he went too far and abused his power during an aggressive arrest caught on camera.
Dyma Loving recalled the March 5 takedown from Officer Alejandro Giraldo in an exclusive interview with NBC 6.
"I'm not going to let them kill me out here like they want to," Loving said. "I'm not about to be the next Trayvon Martin or Sandra Bland or anybody else. I have three kids and they need me."
Officers responded to SW 201st Street after 26-year-old Loving and her friend, Adrianna Green, called police about a neighbor who allegedly pointed a gun at them. Police allege the situation escalated when Loving became irate and uncooperative with officers.
Cellphone video filmed by Green shows Giraldo aggressively pulling Loving to the ground as other officers handcuffed her. Miami-Dade police director Juan Perez called the video "deeply troubling."
"Do not touch me, do not touch me," Loving repeatedly says.
"Why are you doing that?" Green is heard screaming at officers.
Body camera footage of the arrest was released soon after. Loving suffered a minor injury to her elbow but did not seek medical attention and was taken to jail.
"The bodycam didn't even show enough damage on how he just ran up and manhandled me," Loving told NBC 6. "I literally thought he crushed my neck ... it was that bad."
Giraldo was placed on paid administrative leave. But Loving and her attorney believe he should be arrested. Loving also wants to press assault charges against the other officers involved in the arrest, her attorney said.
"With Officer Alejandro Giraldo, the fact that he's still on the force, that fact that also if you look at that video, the officers that were there with him encouraged him to continue with his roguish actions, shows that there's a fundamental breakdown within the Miami-Dade Police Department," Justin Moore said.
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The video also struck a nerve with the NAACP.
"This shows that this officer was very culturally insensitive and just really insensitive overall, and I think what cowardice is for a man to manhandle a woman like that, and I’m very concerned on how these things are happening now to black women in our community," said Ruban Roberts of the Miami-Dade NAACP.
Loving said she also plans to sue the department and the man she says pointed a gun at her. The police department declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation.
