A bystander posted a video showing MPD Officer Mario Figueroa charging up at a man lying on his chest in the grass with an officer pinning him down. Figueroa gave the man a leaping kick straight to the head before turning around and dogpiling him.
"He was down already. Didn't have to kick him!!! I will not let this go unnoticed. He was not resisting arrest he got on his knees and put his hands on his head. He WILLINGLY LAID DOWN. That… kick was uncalled for!!" wrote Lisa Harrell, a bystander, when she uploaded the video to her Facebook.
Rundle is known in the county for her lax prosecution in excessive force and police abuse cases.
In a press release, Rundle said, "I have watched today's Culmer Place video involving a uniformed City of Miami Police Officer and I was shocked and appalled by what I saw."
In 2018, Miami officers have been caught choking suspects or grabbing them by the neck in multiple videos, according to the Miami New Times. Meanwhile, a panel tasked with investigating complaints against officers, the Civilian Investigative Panel, ruled in early May that MPD officers broke the law and MPD policies when they removed a woman's pants during a strip search in broad daylight February 28, 2017.
MPD has been plagued by a slew of use-of-force complaints against them as well. The US Department of Justice (DoJ) released a damning report on the department in 2013 which claimed officers had "engaged in a pattern or practice of excessive use of force through officer-involved shootings in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution." The DoJ continues to monitor the department's treatment of people of color.