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Officer investigated after video shows him throwing woman to ground

One of the involved officers, Alejandro Giraldo, was relieved of duty, the police director said.
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A Miami-Dade police officer has been relieved of his duties after a video posted on social media showed him throwing a black woman to the ground and forcibly arresting her after she called 911 to report that she and a friend had been threatened by a man with a gun.

Officers responded to a call on March 5 that a man, later identified as Frank Tumm, was brandishing a shotgun during an argument with Dyma Loving and Adrianna Green, according to an incident report.

The video, filmed by Green, begins with Loving, 26, telling officers that someone just threatened her life. As Loving, who appears to be upset, is talking to an officer identified by the department as Alejandro Giraldo, he grabs her by the arm and appears to push her against a fence.

"Do not touch me," Loving shouts as a second policeman, identified only as Officer Calderon, grabs her other arm. "Record this. Do not touch me."

Giraldo then puts his arm around Loving’s head and throws her on the ground as Green screams. Calderon and a third officer hold Loving down as she is placed in handcuffs.

"I wanted to call my kid," Loving says. "I just said I wanted to call my kid. My phone is dead. What do you not understand? I had a gun pointed in front of me and my kid is sick. I'm stressed out. I need to go call my children. I don't understand."

Giraldo then yanks Loving to her feet and walks her toward a police car where she was placed in custody for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Image: Dyma Loving
Dyma Loving was arrested by Miami-Dade police officers.Courtesy of Dyma Loving

Loving, who has three children, told NBC News during a phone interview Thursday that Giraldo allegedly told her she needed a mental evaluation before arresting her. She said she was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami and released after posting a $150 bond.

The incident report stated Loving was "acting belligerent and would not obey commands" as officers were investigating the initial call.

"As we tried to keep the parties involved separated, Ms. Loving became further upset, very irate, and uncooperative," the report stated. "Ms. Loving began to scream at us causing a scene."

As officers Giraldo and Calderon tried to place handcuffs on Loving, she "violently" pulled her arm away and "tensed in front of her not allowing her to be handcuffed behind her back," the report said. Loving suffered a minor cut on her elbow during the encounter with officers and refused medical treatment, officers said.

Loving told NBC that "things were getting out of hand" and she doesn't know why because she's the one who called police.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan J. Perez called the video of Loving's arrest "deeply troubling" in a statement Wednesday. A police spokesman said Giraldo was placed on administrative duties.

"Upon becoming aware of the video posted on social media, an immediate inquiry was initiated which resulted in the involved officer being relieved of duty and of his role as a field training officer," Perez said. "An investigation into the entire incident is currently ongoing and upon its conclusion, I will hold those that violated any of our policies and/or procedures accountable for their actions or lack thereof."

Loving said Perez needs to "reassess" his entire department.

"He needs to train them differently," she told NBC. "He needs a whole new team."

According to the department, the man Loving initially called police on was not arrested. Officers wrote in the incident report that Tumm denied owning any weapons and said he did not pull out a gun during his confrontation with Loving and Green.

Police said they searched Tumm's property and did not find any weapons. After a witness initially denied seeing Tumm brandish a weapon and later changed his story to say he did see the gun, officers went back to speak with Tumm but he refused to leave his property, the incident report states.