MIAMI – The actions of three Miami police officers during a 2021 arrest are under scrutiny by the department and the city’s Civilian Investigative Panel, which says excessive force was committed and captured on police body camera footage.
The December 2021 video shows a Miami police officer, Sgt. Gary Sampson, in a heated exchange with a man named Georges Auguste.
Amid a verbal squabble, Auguste tells the officer: “You’re on my property, b----!”
Sampson then grabs Auguste by the throat.
That video and and another taken after Auguste’s arrest, showing the man being dragged by Officer Bens Mocombe at a local hospital, are now at the center of a Civilian Investigative Panel probe.
“So the police department believed the officer engaged in excessive force. We believe the same and our panel will hear that info and create their own recommendations and findings,” Rodney Jacobs, who leads the Civilian Investigative Panel, said.
Jacobs said it was MPD’s internal affairs department that brought the case to the panel’s attention during a routine audit.
The CIP’s report states: “Sergeant Sampson failed to document the fact he grabbed the male in the neck/throat area.”
Three officers in total are part of the excessive force and improper procedure investigation involving Auguste.
“(Investigators) found in their review of one of (the officers’) reports, it did not match what they saw in the body camera footage,” Jacobs said.
The case was presented to the panel to review the findings and offer recommendations Tuesday night.
Ultimately, Miami police will decide whether to impose discipline.