A Black doctor, who is best known for testing homeless people for COVID-19 in Miami, was handcuffed outside his house and charged with trash dumping.
Dr. Armen Henderson spoke out about the racial profiling incident that occurred on Friday, April 10. Henderson says he was unloading supplies outside his home when Miami cops rolled up.
Henderson, an internist at the University of Miami Health System, wrote about the incident on Facebook on Saturday.
“The Miami Police Department has officers trying to cuff me for unloading boxes of tents in front of my own damn house. Tents I was going to take to the houseless,” he wrote.
“No mask, all up in my face, pointing fingers trying to intimidate me like I was his child,” Henderson wrote.
“If was a fairer-skin person or a white person, just doing the same thing, I don’t believe he would’ve stopped me,” Henderson told CNN.
“It was the nature of the stop that really concerned me.”
Henderson said he was cuffed when he asked the officer for his ID.
Henderson called out to his wife who was standing on the front porch with their two children.
“All of a sudden, he’s got his finger all up in my face, he’s pointing at me, yelling at me, saying, ‘You’re going to call me sir, call me sergeant.’ It was very humiliating.”
Henderson said the cop told his wife he was being arrested because of his attitude. Henderson then said the cop removed the handcuffs and drove off.
Henderson said he wanted an apology from the cop.
Chief of Police Jorge Colina released a video statement after Henderson’s story went viral.
“The City of Miami Police Department does not condone or accept profiling of any kind,” Colina said. “We’ve been made aware of a video that’s been circulating of an encounter that occurred on Friday on April the 10. This encounter involves a City of Miami Police Sergeant, who stops outside of a resident’s home.”
Colina stated “We have had a litany of complaints pertaining to illegal dumping.”
He said the cop observed a cargo van parked in front of the house, “where there appears to be trash that’s being offloaded. That’s the genesis of the stop.”
Colina said Henderson’s complaint will be investigated.
