The victim is considering legal options after the city’s attorney ruled that he should not have been arrested and the first place.
In the sweltering August heat of Miami, Tony Zaldivar found himself being shoved in the back seat of a police car.
The puzzled African-American man did not know what he had done.
Officer John Hinson had placed the 26-year-old man under arrest for crimes Zaldivar was not sure he had committed.
He had been placed in handcuffs and was put in the back seat of the car.
Then the cop decided to punch him.
As he said defenseless and handcuffed inside the police vehicle, Hinson assaulted him several times.
This was caught on a witness’ cell phone and then uploaded to social media sites.
The video went viral.
Now two months after an investigation Miami-Dade State Attorney has decided that Zaldivar should have never been in that police car of the first place.
He was facing two counts of misdemeanor – one relating to disorderly conduct and the other for trespassing. Both charges have been dropped.
The department has suspended Hinson.
The entire fiasco indicates that arguably, police officers sometimes feel above the law.
This comes at a time when the Black Lives Matter campaign is gaining strong foothold across the country and getting attention internationally as well.
David Kubiliun is Zaldivar’s attorney. He says the outcome is gratifying in light of the fact that his client had been claiming all along that he had done nothing.
However, there is a chance that Hinson’s rash decision and brutality will cost the city of Miami.
“We are now looking into the possibility of filing a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Miami Police Department,” Kubiliun said.
Watch the video below:
