Miami Sgt. Grabs Elderly Vet by Neck After Misunderstanding Over Spittle

Miami law enforcement officials have been responding to a tenant dispute at a Little Havana house advanced in March 2022 when the scenario immediately devolved right into a 69-year-old veteran getting seized by the throat by a police sergeant and arrested on a bunk cost of battery.

In closely redacted body-cam footage obtained by New Times, two cops are proven talking with the person, Culon Walker, exterior the doorway of a two-story, blue-gray house constructing. Wearing a button-down T-shirt lined with palm fronds and black denims, Walker is clearly upset within the video — his voice rises as he tells Sgt. Antonio Fernandez that his roommate will not be allowed again inside. He is heard loudly urging Fernandez to succeed in out to a different officer who had beforehand sided with him within the tiff.

After just a few moments of listening to Walker shout concerning the battle, Fernandez lunges on the aged man, grabbing him by his throat and taking him to the bottom inside his house, in keeping with witness statements. He accuses Walker of spitting on him.

“Now you are gonna go to jail,” Fernandez tells Walker as he handcuffs him and walks him down the steps of the house constructing to his police automobile.

“You spit in my face,” Fernandez tells Walker.

“I did not imply to… I did not imply to,” Walker says.

“You did not imply to spit in my face?” Fernandez asks. “Why did you spit in my face?”

“I did not. I used to be speaking. I used to be simply speaking,” Walker says.

Fernandez then takes Walker to a patrol car, searches him, and locations him at the back of the automobile. Within minutes, Walker is whisked off to a police station on a battery cost on a regulation enforcement officer.

However, as swiftly decided by the officer’s superior and fellow officers, the spitting was purely unintended. As Walker defined, he had no tooth and sometimes unintentionally spat when he spoke. Numerous officers who have been known as in to evaluate the footage believed Walker’s clarification, together with a rating Miami police lieutenant, in keeping with an inside affairs investigation.

At the station, Walker complained of chest pains and was transported by hearth rescue to Miami Veteran Affairs hospital, the place the lieutenant made contact with him and defined that he was being “unarrested,” the inner affairs report states. Walker, who famous he’s disabled and had a coronary heart situation, remained on the hospital for 5 days following the altercation. He advised investigators that he was evicted when he returned house.

Walker died 9 months later, on December 4, 2022, at his daughter’s residence in Princess Anne, Maryland, in keeping with a neighborhood obituary.

The Miami Police Department’s inside affairs workplace and the Civilian Investigative Panel (CIP), an impartial oversight panel for Miami police, decided that the sergeant had used extreme pressure throughout the incident. The case will probably be mentioned on the CIP’s April 25 assembly.

According to the Miami Police Department’s use of pressure coverage, “officers shall solely use such pressure as in all fairness essential and licensed to impact an arrest or defend themselves or others,” and the extent of pressure used “must be in line with the topic’s degree of resistance.” Officers are additionally prohibited from hanging the top, face, or throat of somebody who does not pose an imminent risk to officers or others on the scene.


Fernandez has labored for the Miami Police Department since 2006 and has ten use-of-force incidents on his report. He’s presently on paid administrative depart, a division spokesperson tells New Times.

The native police union didn’t reply to New Times‘ request for touch upon the incident.

The inside affairs report states that whereas Fernandez maintained that he didn’t choke Walker, he admitted that he instinctively reached ahead and put his arms on Walker’s neck to push Walker away when he felt the spit on his face. He advised inside affairs that he thought the spit was intentional as a result of he was not Walker; he additionally mentioned that he turned upset as a result of he had already gotten COVID twice.

“Sergeant Fernandez acknowledged that on the time, he thought the spit was intentional, however now in a ‘calmer setting,’ he can see that it was inadvertent,” the inner affairs report states.

In the body-worn digital camera footage, Fernandez is seen making an attempt to justify his actions to his companion whereas Walker is within the police automobile. “I’m gonna wash up,” Fernandez tells his companion after making a round movement round his face. “Can’t let that go as a result of subsequent time he offers with any individual, it is gonna worsen.”

Walker says, “I did not do nothing… I used to be in my very own home.”

According to the obituary, Walker was born in Georgia and attended highschool in Salisbury, Maryland. In his youth, he cooked in a number of eating places, labored as a correctional officer, and ultimately joined the Army.

“He performed basketball, softball, and he was an excellent pitcher,” the obituary reads. “There was little question he may strike them out!”

New Times was unable to succeed in Walker’s household for remark.