TORONTO – Two Canadian women have accused police in Miami Beach of roughing them up and insulting them.
Angelina and Michele Mastrangelo have filed an official complaint against Miami Beach Police officers Eduard Alba and William Beeker. The sisters allege they were called “b*****s” and “sluts” and referred to as “dirty Canadians” when they were arrested on December 23.
“It was disgusting how we were treated that night,” Angelina told GlobalToronto.com. “I was shocked.”
The women, who own a spa on O’Connor Drive near St. Clair Avenue East in Toronto, were arrested for allegedly refusing to obey the orders of Alba and Beeker.
After a night of partying at bars in the tourist-friendly South Beach neighbourhood, the Mastrangelos joined three young men for a smoke outside the beach entrance to the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
They claim they were not smoking marijuana but the males were.
Officers Alba and Beeker approached and demanded to see identification.””We cooperated and said ‘here’s our ID’,” she claimed. “But they accused us of having open alcohol, which we didn’t.”
Get breaking National news
Angelina, 24, claimed when she stood up, Beeker told her to “sit the f*** down, b****” then pushed her against the wall, pulled her down, flipped her on her stomach and handcuffed her.
- Sentencing hearing for driver involved in Vaughan crash that killed 16-year-old boy
- Telus sees boost to internet customers as it builds fibre service in Ontario, Quebec
- Ontario ‘adjudicating’ more tariff loan applications, only $100M handed out so far
- Ontario gets surprise jobs boost as unemployment drops slightly
“I was telling him to take me to jail because I didn’t do anything wrong,” she recalled.
Michelle, 20, said Alba pointed his Taser at Angelina while Beeker allegedly threw her against his cruiser and said: “You’re in my playground now, b****.”
Angelina was charged with resisting arrest without violence and Michele was charged with disorderly intoxication, resisting without violence and criminal mischief.
The sisters were taken to Miami Beach Police Station and then booked into a Miami-Dade County detention centre. It is there Michele claimed Alba called Angelina a “fat b****” and other expletives. She accused Alba of telling another officer the women have HIV.
Michele said she urinated on herself while male officers laughed at her.
Both women were released on $3,000 bail after spending 11 hours in custody. Angelina said they weren’t informed for several hours that their mother had paid the bond.
The Mastrangelos were vacationing in Miami Beach during the holidays with their mother Sharron Carpenter and younger sisters. They said they have never been in trouble with police.
Angelina said she and her sister declined to give a videotaped statement to internal investigators because, she alleged, the officers “are going to lie about what happened.” They documented injuries to Angelina’s head and wrist and to Michele’s back.
Alba, 28, and Beeker, 47, have both served as Miami Beach police officers since 2008.
Miami Beach Police spokesman Sgt. Bobby Hernandez said he can’t comment while the incident is under investigation.
Angelina said she remains shaken by the experience. “It scared the s*** out of me,” she said. “I am never going there again.”
Comments