Matteo Falcinelli, the Miami police are ready to talk about the shameful arrest –

The North Miami Beach Police Department is currently not making any statements on the case of Matteo Falcinelli, the Italian student subjected to violence after his arrest last February, but assures that it will release a “detailed statement” this week. This was revealed by the Miami Herald, the main newspaper of the Florida city, which published a long article on the matter, underlining how the images of the violent arrest and hogtiedness are raising “controversy in Italy” and attracting attention “of Italian leaders”.

The newspaper also interviews Chad Piotrowski, a lawyer representing Falcinelli in the United States, who denounces “excessive use of force” by the police “in response to the situation”. “The disturbing thing was seeing the cops tying him up with the hog-tie while he was alone in a locked cell,” he added, referring to the practice, banned by dozens of police departments and advised against as potentially lethal by the Justice Department since since 1995, to connect the handcuffs tightened on the hands with a belt on the feet, which are also tied. “There is absolutely no reason to tie that poor boy up like that, they shouldn’t have done it, it’s a difficult thing to watch,” stated the lawyer.

The American newspaper then reconstructs the circumstances of Falcinelli’s arrest, underlining the contradictions between the police report and what emerges from the footage of the officers’ bodycams. The report states that Falcinelli had been kicked out of the Miami strip club on February 25 because “he was causing a disturbance”, and it is noted that the first two officers who intervened were off duty, but worked for the club, a rather anomalous circumstance. According to the officers, the young man “intentionally” touched them – which triggers arrest in Florida – and did not obey “multiple legal commands to leave”. “After many orders for him to stop, the officers attempted to arrest Falcinelli who continued to touch them, but they were unable to do so because he continued to pull back.” At this point they “directed” him to the ground, and this position caused a scratch and swelling on the right side of his face. The report makes no mention of what happened in the cell, and only mentions him being transferred to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The American newspaper then explains how bodycam videos show how at the moment of arrest, the boy was pushed to the ground, with an officer pressing his knee on his neck – in the way that has become sadly known throughout the world with his death by George Floyd – while Falcinelli shouted “I’m not resisting”. And then he reports the shocking video of the “hog-tying” once they arrived in the cell.