He added, “This supervisor escalated the encounter instead of de-escalating an emotionally charged situation.”
Audio of the body camera clip released by the Sunrise Police Department has been removed. Pullease is seen leaning into the car in front of Similien while holding his can of pepper spray in front of Similien as if he was about to use it.
Not long after a nearby officer whose face in the video is blurred out and whose name hasn’t been released, comes running toward Pullease and grabs him by his belt, pulling him away from the Similien.
The sergeant is seen turning around and aggressively grabbing the officer by the neck while pushing her backward toward another officer car. He returns to the patrol car and slams the door before turning back to continue yelling and posting at the female officer who stopped him. Rosa who says last week P
ullease is on desk duty pending an internal affairs investigation.
When asked why he wasn’t the sergeant arrested, citing that had a civilian done the same, they’d be arrested, Rosa says at the moment he was unable to disclose more on the case but would keep the public updated.
Rosa also said that Sunrise officers are required to “de-escalate and intervene” if an officer appears to lose control.
“This officer intervening and stopping a situation from getting any worse is a direct reflection of the training that we do do with the police department, and I think that it’s important to note that the behavior is very unacceptable by the sergeant, but the behavior of the officer that intervened is exactly what society’s asking their police officers to do right now,” he said.
