Another incident of police brutality against an African American has surfaced.
According to the Miami Herald, Safiya Satchell was sitting in her Mercedes SUV when she was approached by an off duty police officer who was working as security for a strip club in the immediate proximity of the incident, which occurred on Jan. 14.
Satchell was patronizing the club before she got into an argument with its manager, who refused her request to refund her money over an unsatisfactory meal. On her way out, Satchell allegedly threw food at a waitress.
Now fired police officer Jordy Yanes Martel, who is Hispanic, was called to the scene by the manager to cite Satchell with trespassing charges so she would not be allowed to reenter the club. However, when he approached her vehicle, the situation escalated quickly.
Martel asked Satchell for her ID, then told her to exit the vehicle and follow him to his car so that he could read the citation. She countered by telling the officer that she did not have shoes on and would prefer to drive to his car. Martel refused her request and eventually reached into her car, unlocked the door, opened it and dragged her out onto the ground.
He then swept her legs and placed his knee on her neck. To add insult to injury, Martel tased Satchell in the stomach multiple times.
Martel turned himself in to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday, June 25.
“If you’re an officer that has broken policy or acted under color of law with a belief that Black lives don’t matter, you ought to be looking over your shoulder because the chickens have finally come home to roost,” said Satchell’s lawyer, Jonathan Jordan. “My client deserves to witness justice be served in this prosecution against this former officer where so many others in her position have not been as fortunate.”
Martel was booked on charges of official misconduct for filing two reports containing false details about his interaction with Satchell, 33.
“As a result of Martel’s actions, Ms. Satchell suffered abrasions to her stomach from the Tasers, bruises and abrasions on her arms and bruises on her legs,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said Thursday afternoon. “By filing these criminal charges today against former Miami Gardens officer Jordy Yanes Martel, we are saying that these actions are just plain wrong.”
Click continue to view footage of the incident.
