Knee on Black woman's neck: Fired Miami Gardens police officer

A former Miami Gardens police officer was charged on Thursday with battery and misconduct after a video surfaced on the internet showing him pressing his knee on a Black woman’s neck and pressing her stomach, while she kept screaming, U.S. media reports declared.

Jordi Martel, 30, was charged with official misconduct for filing two reports with false details about the incident that took place outside a striptease club on January 14, State Attorney Katherine Rundle explained in a press conference.

Image credit CNN

Martel and another officer, Jaiver Castano, were fired last week, although Miami Gardens Police Department has not explained the reasons why they were dismissed, according to the Miami Herald newspaper.

The video of the incident, filmed by a bystander, showed Martel dragging Safiya Satchell, 33 - the victim of the aggression - out of her car and subsequently forcing her down on a grass verge by the roadside.

The video clip showed Martel stunned her twice with a Taser, a weapon that delivers an electric shock. Another officer held Satchell’s arm as she struggled to free herself.

Ex-Officer Jordy Yanes Martel was charged with battery Thursday after video surfaced of him putting his knee on a woman's neck in the Miami area.The off-duty police officer was working as a security guard at a strip club when the altercation took place in January. Image credit Global News

Currently, the United States is witnessing widespread protests against racism and police brutality since last month’s murder of a Black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The protests that started in the U.S. then spread around the globe, taking place in Italy, the UK, Belgium, France, and many other countries.