Video footage of Fred Kerley’s arrest by Miami Beach police sparked a wide range of reaction on social media Friday − and renewed an all-too familiar conversation about policing in America.
Some watched the body-worn camera footage of the incident − and other video clips posted on social media by witnesses − and saw it as police did, with the Team USA sprinter and Olympic medalist as the aggressor who ignored orders from officers and started the physical confrontation.
Others saw Kerley as the victim, yet another Black man on the receiving end of physical force from officers who they believe should have done more to de-escalate the situation.
Kerley, 29, was ultimately subdued by an officer’s Taser and charged with battery upon a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer and disorderly conduct. The first charge is a third-degree felony, while the latter two are misdemeanors.
At a bond hearing Friday, one of Kerley’s attorneys, Yale Sanford, called the situation a misunderstanding and ‘a complete overuse of any reasonable force by officers.’ And Miami television station WPLG reported that the judge, Mindy Glazer, appeared to agree.
‘Sergeant, this could have been handled a different way,’ Glazer told a Miami Beach police officer during the hearing, according to WPLG. ‘And I don’t know if the officers in Miami Beach are busy handling a lot of complicated crime scenes there, but I have a gentleman who’s never been arrested, there’s no prior arrests, who his attorney’s saying has competed in the Olympics, who is obviously a professional athlete and it’s unfortunate that he got to this position.’
Glazer indicated that she had not seen the body-worn camera footage at the time of the hearing. Kerley was charged later Friday with domestic battery and robbery in an unrelated case in Miami-Dade County, stemming from what another one of his attorneys, Richard L. Cooper, called ‘a falsified accusation.’
What sparked Fred Kerley’s altercation with police?
According to police, Thursday’s confrontation started when Kerley, the reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the men’s 100-meter dash, was attempting to enter an unrelated but active police scene en route to his car, which was apparently parked nearby.
While the beginning of body-worn camera footage released by police does not include audio, which is customary on modern body cams, the video appears to show Kerley approaching two officers and being directed to leave the area. He then approaches a third officer, who puts his hand toward Kerley’s chest in what is described in the written police report as an attempt to create space between them as a safety precaution. Kerley then moves the officer’s hand away, and a scuffle ensues.
Video of the incident shows four officers attempting to wrestle Kerley to the ground, with one of them delivering several blows to the sprinter’s rib cage in an apparent attempt to subdue him.
‘Our officers reverted back to training,’ Miami Beach police spokesperson Christopher Bess told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. ‘Our officer was battered, and they responded to the resistance appropriately and professionally.’
Bess said the officers’ conduct will be subject to a review process, as is standard with any case involving the use of force. This process includes a supervisor’s review of the body-worn camera footage and statements from all of the parties involved, including the defendant − in this case, Kerley.
‘If we see something that may have violated departmental policy or standard operating procedures, then it’s escalated to either an internal affairs investigation and/or the appropriate discipline on a supervisory level,’ Bess explained.
Are there similarities between Fred Kerley’s altercation and Tyreek Hill’s?
Kerley’s arrest came a little less than five months after another high-profile athlete had a contentious incident with police in the Miami area.
In September, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was pulled over for speeding while driving to Hard Rock Stadium for a game. He was then forcefully pulled out of the car by Miami-Dade police officers and pinned to the ground after rolling up his window, despite being asked by officers not to do so. One of the officers involved in the incident, Danny Torres, was later placed on ‘administrative duties’ following an internal review.
Hill later acknowledged that he had been speeding and could have handled the encounter differently, but he also criticized police for escalating the situation by removing him from his car.
Julius Collins, one of the attorneys representing Hill in that matter, told USA TODAY Sports that he sees similarities there in the footage of Kerley.
‘The similarities between Mr. Hill and Mr. Kerley’s unfortunate interactions with law enforcement is the obvious: The same treatment of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement and an escalation by law enforcement,’ Collins wrote in an email. ‘… Law enforcement officials have a duty to deescalate situations and yet again they failed to do so here.’
Another member of Hill’s legal team, civil rights lawyer Devon M. Jacob, reviewed the body-worn camera footage of Kerley’s arrest and said the mechanics of the two incidents are significantly different.
Where Hill was sitting in his car and trying to understand the situation, Jacob said, Kerley appeared to make the initial contact with police and apparently ignored orders to leave the area.
‘Citizens do not have a right to disobey lawful orders, such as to back up from a police scene that they’re not involved with — which, in my understanding, is how this started,’ said Jacob, a Pennsylvania-based attorney who helped represent George Floyd’s family in its civil case against the City of Minneapolis following Floyd’s death at the hands of police in 2020.
‘An individual has no right to get within the personal space, in a threatening manner, of a police officer. Once that happens, it’s within an officer’s right to take that person into custody. And that’s what happened here.’
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.