Facebook friend requests from strangers almost always turn out to be bad news. In the best-case scenario, some weird guy from Turkmenistan insults your sister’s prom photos. In the worst-case: Someone creates a fake account, discovers hidden info about your past, and then threatens to release that information or kill you…
In Miami-Dade County, cities can’t spend money on public transportation, affordable housing, or sea-level rise preparedness without local residents stomping their feet and flooding city commission meetings to protest. But ask for six figures worth of controversial, military-grade police equipment, and South Florida cities will pretty much just hand you a…
Ayinde Crespo says that in 2012, he had a hell of a time convincing anyone that a Miami cop named Marcel Jackson had attacked him outside a strip club. The way Crespo tells it, Jackson tackled him from behind, slammed his face into the ground, and beat him. Even after…
The call came in to Miami Beach police early on a Monday morning two years ago: An MBPD sergeant, the witness said, had gotten hammered while working off-duty at Mango’s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive. Police arrived to find Sgt. Mike Muley in such bad shape he had to be…
A few years ago, Tomas Kennedy, an immigration and civil-rights activist, spent some time working as an aide at County Hall. In all that time, Kennedy says, he’d never seen a security officer brandishing a semi-automatic gun for any reason. So Kennedy says his jaw dropped when he showed up…
When Martin County police arrived Monday to find 19-year-old Austin Harrouff standing over the bodies of two bleeding victims, violently biting at man’s face, police first fired stun-guns. When those didn’t work, cops then unleashed a dog. When that didn’t work, three officers pulled Harrouff off the man and brought him…
Back in 2011, Jesse Campodonico, a 27-year-old fitness trainer from New York, was thrown to the ground and Tasered by police at Ultra Music Fest. Campodonico later filed a lawsuit for police brutality against the city and the festival and ultimately Ultra paid $400,000 to settle the case. Naturally, festival organizers weren’t…
As Austin Harrouff stabilizes in a Palm Beach County hospital, the public may soon get answers as to why the 19-year-old allegedly murdered two strangers, stabbed another, and proceeded to eat the dead man’s face as police repeatedly Tasered him. Behind all the bizarre headlines around the case, though, are two…
For seven years, John Timoney redefined policing in Miami. As chief of the Miami Police Department, his innovative approaches to police shootings and patrolling mass protests drew both international praise and condemnation, making him one of the most visible cops in the world during his heyday. Timoney died last night…
In 2011, 38-year-old Cristina Siekavizza disappeared in Guatemala City. A frenzied manhunt ensued. Cops canvassed town after town. Guatemalan national magazine Contrapoder wrote an entire feature on her death, and the case sparked a national debate about domestic violence after her family organized marches throughout the nation’s capital. Eventually, police pointed their fingers…
When the U.S. Marshals issued an arrest warrant for Anibal Mustelier back in 1995, Mustelier had a thick head of bushy brown hair sprouting atop his head. His face was unblemished, and light stubble gave his face a youthful glow. After Mustelier, 66, was arrested on Sunday, his latest mugshot…
In South Florida, there’s a long and bizarre history of politicians as would-be crime fighters. In the mid-1970s, Miami politico J. L. Plummer was called “Commissioner Kojak” after installing a police radio in his Cadillac and showing up at crime scenes. In 1979, Miami Beach Mayor Alex Daoud “actively participated in the…
As crowds stumble along South Beach’s most iconic strip of art deco hotels and restaurants on a hot Saturday in July, the chipper sidewalk hostesses do a quick mental calculation, looking for a phrase that might lure passersby. “Table for two?” they hawk. “Happy hour!” “Two-for-one drinks!” It’s 5:45 p.m…
In the vast majority of controversial shootings by police, the victims have not lived to tell their side of the story. Thankfully, Charles Kinsey survived after getting shot by North Miami SWAT Officer Jonathan Aledda in July. Now, he’s going to tell his side of the story in court. Yesterday, Kinsey…
After a stream of controversial police killings, most large forces have adopted body cameras to help monitor their own cops. But in the scramble, critics say many have also started using the equipment without enacting the rules to properly use them. When Miami Police started testing body-cameras in 2014, the…
One afternoon in August 2012, Kathryn Thomas was surprised to see cars from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office and Animal Control outside her yellow ranch house in Loxahatchee. They were parked near a wall of palm trees and a metal gate with a “Beware of Dog” sign. The petite 52-year-old,…
This morning, a man riding through a fairly empty area of Homestead pulled his horse to a screeching halt. He called Laurie Waggoner, director of branch operations for the South Florida Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, also known as the SPCA, and said he had found something…
On February 27, 2014, Miami-Dade County cops paid a visit to 37-year-old Maykel Antonio Barrera’s Miami home. They knocked on the door, but Barrera, high on cocaine and PCP at the time, tried to slam the door and run out the back of the house. Before he could escape, the…
Earlier this week, the North Miami Police Department set up a hotline to field calls from people about the July 18 police shooting of behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey. New Times listened to roughly 50 of the calls posted on the department’s website, and not one showed support for the cops…
When a police officer shot and killed Homestead’s Edward Foster in 2015, his mother was shattered. “She didn’t take the funeral well,” Foster’s sister, Crystal, tells New Times. “She lost her memory.” Last night, Foster’s mother, who is in her late 50s and finally in better shape, showed up at…
A few months ago, a group of Miami Beach police officers homeless listed the city’s most troubled homeless people — those who lived on the streets, were in poor health, and were severely dependent on alcohol. Those on the list had consistently refused offers of treatment or shelter, and it didn’t…
This has been YesJulz’s year. With the key exception of DJ Khaled, YesJulz (real name: Julieanna Goddard, 28), is the biggest social-media star in America right now not named Kardashian. After getting her start promoting events for South Beach clubs like LIV and Story, she now spends her time jet-setting…
