According to Miami-Dade police, "dehumanizing stares" are why they chose to forcefully restrain a 14-year-old boy who was holding a puppy and playing with his friends on the beach. Authorities approached Tremaine McMillian while he was goofing around with a friend in the water, ordering them to stop fighting. Even though they soon realized the boys weren't actually fighting, they still felt the need to ask the teen to identify his mother.
While McMillian says he followed instructions, Det. Alvaro Zabaleta says he walked away, ignoring him. Zabeta added that officers had to follow him on their ATVs, and that McMillian had "closed arms, clenched fists and pulled his arm away." Apparently threatened by McMillian's body language, police said they had no choice but to choke him out.
McMillian said he couldn't have had closed fists because he was holding his six-month old puppy in one hand and using a bottle to feed him with the other. He told a juvenile court judge that he peed on himself because the chokehold left him unable to breathe.
He was charged with resisting arrest with violence and disorderly conduct. His public defender has asked that the charges be reconsidered, but a juvenile judge denied the request.
