What to Know
- Officer Gustavo De Los Rios, 38, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge
- De Los Rios had been relieved of duty after the incident happened on Feb. 14 in northwest Miami-Dade
- De Los Rios had been relieved of duty after the incident happened on Feb. 14 in northwest Miami-Dade
A Miami-Dade Police officer is facing a battery charge after he was allegedly caught on camera kicking a teenager who was on the ground handcuffed with his hands behind his back.
Gustavo De Los Rios, 38, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge in connection with the incident, Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said in a statement Tuesday.
NBC 6 is trying to reach De Los Rios' attorney for comment.
De Los Rios had been relieved of duty after the incident happened on Feb. 14 in northwest Miami-Dade, the Miami Herald reported. According to the Herald, police were looking for the teen in connection with a burglary, and found him in a car that was being driven by his mother.
The teen, who was about 17 at the time, took a swing at one officer during a confrontation, police said. Officers tried to shoot him with a Taser but it didn't work, and he was eventually taken into custody. The teen wasn't injured.
A woman who witnessed the incident shot footage with her cellphone, and after reviewing the footage, prosecutors determined the kick by De Los Rios happened after the teen was handcuffed on the ground, the Herald reported. The video has not been released.
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"His actions are disappointing and do not reflect our agency's core values," Perez said in the statement. "I assure our community that all allegations of misconduct, involving our personnel, will be vigorously investigated. No one is above the law."
Records show De Los Rios was arrested in Broward County last year on a domestic violence charge, but the charge was later dropped. He has been with Miami-Dade Police since 2007, the Herald reported.
"I think that there isn't one of us, anywhere, that isn't terribly disappointed when our men and women in uniform who are out there to protect us and work hard for us, an overwhelming majority of them are good and hardworking people. It's so disappointing when a few of these officers just abuse the trust that we have in them," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said.
The alleged incident happened less than a few months before a Miami Police officer, Mario Figueroa, was charged with misdemeanor assault after he was filmed taking a kick at the head of a suspect. Figueroa's case remains open.
