A black doctor who has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic was handcuffed outside his home when police thought he was illegally dumping trash.
Police approached Dr. Armen Henderson—a physician who has been treating the virus in the hospital and on Miami’s streets—when he was unloading supplies from his van. He told ABC News that his biggest concern was the close physical confrontation he had with a police sergeant, who wasn’t wearing protective gear. Henderson told the outlet that the cop got “all up in my face.” The incident took place on Friday.
Earlier last week, Miami-Dade Police Chief Jorge Colina revealed that at least six officers had contracted coronavirus and an additional 125 had been quarantined after being tested. In a statement, Colina begged the public to abide by lockdown guidelines, saying, “Please, stay inside, adhere to social distancing, wear a mask or a cloth face covering and be responsible. We’re here for you. Please do your part for us.”
Henderson said the sergeant who cuffed him disregarded the chief’s message. “He put me at risk,” Henderson said. “Now I feel like I should get tested, honestly. Most likely I will because he definitely was spitting in my face. I could feel it while he was yelling at me.”
Henderson has claimed that the cop arrested him because he’s black. Colina has launched an investigation into the incident. While police haven’t shared the sergeant’s identity, video footage shows that the cop himself wasn’t following social distancing rules.
“Let me start by saying that the City of Miami Police Department does not condone or accept profiling of any kind,” Colina said in a video statement released on Saturday. He added that there have been a number of complaints from residents in the area where Henderson was detained about people illegally offloading trash, which was “the genesis of the stop.”
When the cop pulled up, he asked if Henderson was littering, and if he lived and worked in the area, to which Henderson confirmed. When he was dismissive of the cop’s inquiry, the situation escalated, with the cop demanding to see Henderson’s I.D. He didn’t have his I.D. on him, so he had to call for his wife to bring it outside. The cop subsequently uncuffed Henderson.
“He didn’t apologize. He just got in his car and drove away,” Henderson said, adding that he didn’t get a chance to tell the sergeant that he’s a doctor or that he was on his way to supplies to the homeless.
“My hospital is becoming fuller and fuller, more and more people are coming in for COVID-19. I take care of the bulk of those patients just because I work at night. The majority of the patients that I’m seeing right now are COVID-19,” Henderson told ABC News. “'It’s ironic because the police department released a whole video that morning saying, ‘We thank first responders.’ But even if I wasn’t a doctor, why do you feel the need to stop me during a pandemic? Don't you have other things to do?”
