After the worst of the mayhem that took place in Miami Beach over the Memorial Day weekend, what concerned local cops the most? Was it the four innocent bystanders who’d been shot (possibly as a result of the cops’ own wild firing)? Nope. it was the civilian videos of their shooting spree . . .

Narces Benoit was driving down the same street as Raymond Henrisse when all the shooting started. Not content to be trapped in a live fire situation, Narces hopped out of his Ford Explorer and filmed the Miami police officers as they surrounded Henrisse’s car. He continued filming as they opened fire, killing Henrisse.

That’s when the cops noticed Benoit’s documentary efforts. They decided to let him know of their displeasure by pointing a gun at his girlfriend and him as they sat in their car and asking them if they “want to be f***ing papparazzi?” I’m guessing, after the police-launched hail of bullets they’d just witnessed, the upholstery in the Ford might need some touch up work.

Not surprisingly, Benoit and his girlfriend exited the car. That’s when they were forced to the ground, handcuffed and watched as Benoit’s cell phone was crushed under foot by one of Miami Beach’s finest. Evidently not wanting to be accused of lifting the phone, the Droid-stomping officer then tucked the phone in Benoit’s pocket. Benoit and his girlfriend said that the cops crushed a number of other phones, as well.

But Miami Beach police don’t seem to be up on the latest technology. What they didn’t think of is the possibility that the phone’s SIM card, where the video resides, might have survived the phone’s destruction. Later, when Benoit was uncuffed and the cops’ attention was elsewhere, he removed the tiny SIM card and hid it in his mouth.

Benoit’s looking to cash in on the video, reportedly fielding offers from web sites and newspapers. He hasn’t posted it on YouTube yet, but the wait shouldn’t be long, I’d suspect. That will probably happen shortly before his attorney announces the law suit against the City of Miami Beach. I’m guessing he’s got a case.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Wow, if Benoit’s story pans out, what the Miami PD did to him and his girlfriend should merit the immediate dismissal with prejudice of the involved officers. In my view, it is even worse than shooting up the car.

    And if several other onlookers had their personal property similarly destroyed by Miami’s finest, hopefully the city is setting aside some money right now for the claims that are going to be filed in short order.

  2. Screw the claims re: the damaged cell phone. It was classic “assault” for those LEOs to point their gun at a law abiding civilian, and battery when they cuffed them. (Probably kidnapping/false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well.) This has all sorts of nasty implications – civil and criminal.

    If everything is true…

  3. This story is crazy! The cops act like the Wild Bunch, shooting up everything in a devil may care fashion, then they act like the gestapo, terrorizing the witnesses. The other side is that we have a thug drug dealer, carrying a weapon illegally-why not, the federal laws are never enforced-who was also in the wrong. The only question is whether it was a good shoot or not. In that I mean did he actually fire on police-not the reactionary shootout like the movie, The Gauntlet. I would have been terrified as a cop-wondering where my rounds were going. I was a cop, a good cop. These guys embarrass me. This is more like the kind of shootout you’d expect at a military check point, where the driver acted as a terrorist.

  4. I guess this is the lesson of the Rodney King incident — if there’s no video, there’s no police misconduct — unless they accidentally forget to remove the broom handle from someone’s ass.

  5. Did anyone else notice the door behind the “blond” woman? It apeared to have been pried open several times.

  6. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I believe this incident involved the Miami BEACH PD, a different jurisdiction than the City of Miami PD or Miami-Dade County PD.

    I don’t know how MPD or MDPD would react in this situation but lets tar the proper agency, MBPD, not MPD.

    That being said we’re taught that the police are there to help us but this is a clear case of cops behaving exactly like thugs. At least with thugs you expect them to threaten you and try to kill you. EVERY “officer” involved in this incident should be fired and charged — this is absolutely unacceptable behavior.

    All decent cops should condemn this. But we all know that little to nothing will happen to any of the cops involved and the image and reputation of the cops will drag a little further into the gutter because of these bastards. And the good cops will deserve the diminished reputation and trust they deserve for failing to speak up.

  7. “Hey! I am a cop and you will respect my authorita!” “Poor people tend to live in clusters.”

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