Another cop was arrested in what has been an unprecedented month for dirty cops winding up in cuffs, proving that police and prosecutors had the power all along to make these arrests instead of spending countless months with “investigations” that went nowhere.
In this case, Miami Gardens police officer Jordy Yanes Martel was arrested Thursday for yanking a 33-year-old woman out of her car and planting his knee on her neck which is evidently a routine move taught in the academy that cops were getting away with for years.
But ever since Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd by planting his knee on the man’s neck for almost nine minutes in a video that viral and shocked the world, cops nationwide have been getting arrested for what was once not only acceptable but probably encouraged behavior.
Martel’s arrest stems from an incident in January 14, 2020 where he was working off-duty as a security guard in a strip club called Tootsie’s and had been asked by the manager to issue a trespass order on a woman who had just stormed out of the venue after arguing with him over food, throwing money at a waitress on her way out.
Safiya Satchell 33, was in the driver’s seat of her car with a friend in the passenger seat when a security guard blocked them from leaving. Martel walked up to the window and ordered her out of the car and to walk with him to his car so he could issue her the trespass order, which would bar her from returning.
Satchell told the cop she had just removed her shoes and asked if she could just drive to his car which apparently was on the other side of the parking lot. But he refused and began escalating the conversation as they always do, evidently another tactic taught in the academy.
Her friend began recording. It was that video that saved her.
According to the Miami Herald:
In his arrest report, he claimed that she closed the window on his hand, then began “striking me.” Once out of the SUV, he claimed, she resisted by “tensing and kicking,” then punched him on the lip.
Prosecutors said he dragged her out, swept her leg so she fell on her back and put his knee on her neck. Then, he twice used a Taser gun, stunning her in the belly.
Defense lawyers for Satchell turned over the video — taken by Satchell’s friend — to Miami-Dade prosecutors and FDLE several weeks ago.
Investigators determined that the video showed Martel’s arrest report contained a slew of false statements, including that he was “helping” her out of the SUV and that Satchell was kicking, they said.
“We felt very strongly that what he wrote in his affidavit and the incident report was completely made up,” Fernández Rundle said. She said of the video: “We’re not always fortunate to have this kind of evidence.”
Martel arrested Satchell on the charges of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest with violence which were dismissed once prosecutors saw the video.
On Thursday, it was Martel who was charged with battery and official misconduct for the lies he wrote in his report.
Martel was fired last week along with another cop named Jaiver Castana, for another incident caught on video.
According to Local 10:
“I terminated the officers because the behavior was egregious and will not be tolerated at the department,” Miami Gardens Police Chief Delma Noel-Pratt in a statement following their terminations.
Miguel McKay said he and his friends did nothing to provoke the officers that night.
“Yes, it was police brutality because of the way he came out and the way he addressed us. It was more like out of anger,” McKay said. “I’m still dealing with neck pain, back pain, knee pain. I’m dealing with a lot.”
They also punched and bashed out a window of McKay’s truck, he said.
One of the officers is accused of excessive force. The other officer is accused of covering it up by not downloading his bodycam footage, which is a requirement after every shift.
Both of the officers had been with Miami Gardens Police for less than two years. Records show that this was the first time for both in law enforcement. Castano had worked for retail store Toys R Us and also for a bail bondsmen. Yanes Martel was a mechanic.
Watch the video that led to her charges dismissed above. The body cam footage can be viewed in this Miami Herald link.
