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Google PlayA Miami-Dade police officer on Thursday was convicted of felony battery and official misconduct for the violent arrest of a Black woman in 2019, the Associated Press reports.
Back in March 2019, a viral video captured police officer Alejandro Giraldo tackling Dyma Loving, who had called law enforcement for help after a neighbor threatened her with a shotgun.
“Police officers can put their hands on people to effectuate a lawful arrest. If the arrest is unlawful, they have no more rights than the rest of us. And he sure as heck can’t tackle her to the ground,” prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen told the jury.
Giraldo maintains his innocence, claiming that he was merely attempting to subdue a disorderly woman who was impeding his investigation.
“What you see there isn’t a crime. What you see there is a police officer working the streets, dealing with a situation and maybe his bedside manner was off,” Giraldo’s attorney, Andre Rouviere, argued to the court. “When he arrested Dyma Loving, it was after warning after warning that she was being disruptive.”
Giraldo, who is Hispanic, faces up to five years in prison at sentencing.
“We thought that we had established that they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges, but I guess the jury saw it a different way, and we have to accept the jury’s verdict,” Rouviere told reporters following Giraldo’s conviction.
