FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Attorney Benjamin Crump used social media on Saturday to accuse Fort Lauderdale police officers of arresting the wrong man when they responded to a hotel.
Raymond Rachal was working at Best Western’s front desk in Fort Lauderdale when a hotel guest was “spewing racial slurs” at him, so he decided to “exercise his right” to cancel his stay, according to Crump. The surveillance video Crump shared shows the guest rushing behind the front desk to attack Rachal.
”Officers allowed the man to STAY & Rachal was attacked, arrested & charged for defending himself,” Crump wrote.
According to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, internal affairs investigators are conducting a review of the Jan. 19 incident at 1180 Sea Breeze Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale. Rachal, of Lauderdale Lakes, was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest with violence. The case was later dropped.
Rachal’s mother said her son was just defending himself from Jason Rabe, the hotel guest seen on the surveillance video, and they are in search of an attorney to represent him in a civil rights lawsuit. Greg Lauer, a Fort Lauderdale-based civil rights attorney, said he agreed with Crump after he saw the surveillance video. He was also concerned about discrepancies between the officer’s arrest report and the surveillance video.
“If this officer were to come in and say, ‘Oh yeah, this guy pushed me and that’s why I arrested him,’ it’s a lie, so ethically a prosecutor can put him on the stand to say that. The entire thing is on video, if this police officer cared enough to see what had actually happened he could have easily watched the video. I mean, they got the wrong guy,” Lauer said.
The surveillance video from the hotel shows Rachal overpowered Rabe and pinned him down until police officers arrived and turned on him instead.
According to Officer Anthony Camodeo’s complaint, he responded to a report of “a male having another male in a headlock” at the hotel. When he arrived at the hotel’s lobby, Rachal had Rabe with blood on his face in a headlock and there was a large pool of blood, according to Camodeo.
Camodeo reported pushing Rachal’s torso several times while ordering him to back up and Rachal pushing back. The surveillance video doesn’t show Rachal’s alleged push; it does show Camodeo shoving Rachal into a minifridge.
“He tensed up his arms and upper body and was holding his arms in front of him resisting officers’ efforts to handcuff him,” Camodeo wrote, adding there was “a struggle” before he took Rachal to the back of his marked patrol car.
Officers gave Rabe, who appeared to be intoxicated, a courtesy ride to a friend’s house. Rachal got a ride to the Broward County jail. Crump implied race was a factor in the way officers treated Rachal.
Court records show Rachal was released on a $1,000 bond, just two days before his 28th birthday. The State Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against him and Broward Circuit Judge George Odom, Jr., disposed of the third-degree felony case on Feb. 9, court records show.
Read the complete statement by FLPD
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is aware of a video circulating social media relating to an arrest made in January. The incident occurred on January 19, 2022 at 1180 Seabreeze Boulevard. Fort Lauderdale’s Office of Internal Affairs is conducting a review of this incident.
Related social media
Hotel employee Raymond Rachal tried to exercise his RIGHT to cancel a white hotel guest's stay for spewing racial slurs at him, but Ft. Lauderdale (Fla) PD officers allowed the man to STAY & Rachal was attacked, arrested & charged for defending himself! pic.twitter.com/jTThAa9e3X
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) March 27, 2022
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