Fred Kerley, a two-time Olympic medalist sprinter for the US and one of many quickest runners on the earth, was arrested late Thursday night time in Miami Seashore, Fla., after an altercation with the police in South Seashore, a gathering place for vacationers that’s identified for its nightlife.
Mr. Kerley, who gained a silver medal on the 2020 Tokyo Video games within the males’s 100-meter sprint and a bronze in the identical occasion on the 2024 Paris Video games, was charged with battery of a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after arguing after which struggling with officers simply off the world’s important thoroughfare, Ocean Drive. The battery cost, a felony, carries a most sentence of 5 years in jail.
Mr. Kerley, who’s 29 and from Taylor, Texas, additionally faces two different felony costs, for theft and home violence in an unrelated case from final Could. The police stated that they had been in search of him in reference to that matter. These costs embody allegations that he choked his spouse and stole her cellphone.
Yale M. Sanford, a lawyer representing Mr. Kerley on this week’s arrest, stated the police had been within the incorrect as a result of a easy dialog with Mr. Kerley might have de-escalated the scenario.
“It’s an overstep and, you possibly can even say, an unreasonable use of power that might have been averted,” Mr. Sanford stated.
Richard L. Cooper, a lawyer representing Mr. Kerley within the home violence case, stated these costs had been “utterly unsubstantiated,” and that it was his understanding that the case was not being pursued. The costs had been introduced unexpectedly by the authorities after the altercation with the police in South Seashore, he stated. Mr. Kerley and his spouse are separated and are in search of a divorce, the lawyer stated.
The police defended their actions, saying that Mr. Kerley had interfered with an energetic crime scene at a tense time within the nation, when police in Miami Seashore had been on excessive alert within the days after a van rammed a crowd in New Orleans, killing 14 folks, and a Cybertruck exploded outdoors a Trump Lodge in Las Vegas, killing one.
On Thursday night time, officers had been investigating a person who had parked a automotive in a spot reserved for emergency automobiles close to Ocean Drive, stated Officer Christopher Bess, a spokesman for the Miami Seashore Police Division. Mr. Kerley diverted their consideration, Officer Bess stated.
“We simply noticed an aggressive male impeding the crime scene,” Officer Bess stated of Mr. Kerley.
Whereas the police had been coping with the person who parked within the emergency space, Mr. Kerley approached the police, saying he was involved about his personal automotive, which was parked close by, based on Officer Bess and an arrest affidavit. The police described Mr. Kerley as having “an aggressive demeanor,” the affidavit stated.
One officer’s physique digicam video reveals shaky glimpses of a chaotic altercation, which appeared to escalate when an officer used his arm to dam Mr. Kerley from approaching, and Mr. Kerley batted it away. A number of officers then wrestled Mr. Kerley to the bottom and tried to handcuff him whereas he repeatedly tried to climb to his ft, based on the video and police paperwork.
One officer “delivered a number of hammer fists towards the defendant’s higher head space and several other elbows towards his higher again space,” based on the arrest affidavit, and the police physique digicam reveals officers hanging Mr. Kerley as they attempt to subdue him.
A girlfriend of Mr. Kerley seems within the background of the police video, holding up her cellphone to videotape whereas repeatedly calling out, “Cease! Cease!” At one level, she says, “He’s an athlete, please don’t mess with him.” Later, she refers to him as a “U.S.A. athlete” and says, “Cease, he didn’t doing something.”
Simply over a minute into the battle, a number of law enforcement officials step away from Mr. Kerley, letting him rise to his ft earlier than utilizing a stun gun on him, the video reveals. He then collapses onto the road.
On the physique digicam video, Mr. Kerley might be heard saying, “I’m not resisting, get off me,” and “Get off my legs. I want my legs.”
A number of instances he referred to as the officers weak and cursed at them. He additionally stated they had been going to jail for placing their palms on him.