An investigation has been launched into recently surfaced bodycam footage that shows a Florida deputy grab a Black father by the throat and call him “boy” while the man was holding his 9-month old son.
According to the Daily Beast, an internal affairs investigation has been launched into Deputy James Cady after body-camera footage from 2017 recorded him seemingly harassing a black father who was holding his infant son. Cady reportedly has a history of making false arrests and now the Broward Sheriff’s Office revealed that an investigation has been launched after a complaint was filed by the Broward Public Defender’s Office in light of the body-cam footage that surfaced last month.
“This video depicts a clear display of police abuse,” public defender Howard Finkelstein wrote to the sheriff’s office in a Jan. 30
letter . “In addition, Deputy Cady’s use of the term “boy” is offensive, condescending and demeaning. It carries racial connotations when used while addressing an adult black male.”
The video was recorded by Cady’s body camera outside of a Dania Beach hotel in July 2017. It shows Cady approaching the victim Allen Floyd while he’s calmly holding his infant son. Cady then asks Floyd is he has a “separate” room at the Red Carpet Inn before demanding to see his identification.
The Miami Herald and The Daily Beast provided a breakdown of the shocking video.
In the video, Floyd, in a move Finkelstein described as an attempt to “de-escalate” the situation, tells the deputy his name and says he can “look [him] up.”
“If you lie to me one time, I’m taking your ass to jail,” Cady replies. “You understand me?”
Floyd then questions why Cady is “yelling” at him, and asks the deputy to stop calling him “boy.” As the father begins to walk away, Cady grabs him by the right arm.
“The officer then grabs him by his neck while he’s holding a 9-month-old child in his hands, and pushes him against the car, and at no point in time does Mr. Floyd respond in an aggressive manner,” Gordon Weekes, executive chief of Broward Public Defender’s Office, said in a statement.
In the video, Floyd can be seen stretching his arms wide open. “I don’t want no problems with
y’all ,” Floyd says, relenting and showing his identification. “You are standing there calling me boy, grabbing me by my neck.’”
Though Floyd wasn’t arrested, he didn’t pursue legal action against Cady out of fear that he would lose custody of his son.
“I just wanted to forget and have no trouble with the police department,” Floyd said. “The situation was hurtful, and I didn’t want to cause attention to myself in case they took my son away. But when you call a black man boy, it’s like you’re degrading his character.”
A look into Cady’s history shows settlements made due to wrongful arrests.
“There is a pattern of behavior here that needs to be addressed,” said Weekes.
Press play below for the shocking video.
Florida @BrowardSheriff cop with history of making false arrests harasses, curses at black father calmly holding his baby, repeatedly calls him "boy." SEE FULL VIDEO AT https://t.co/oRNcDRb0JH pic.twitter.com/a5fYB8AoK8
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) February 9, 2019
