AlliedUniversal security investigated for excessive use of force at Metrorail Station
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. June 23 2019– A man was tackled to the ground by security guards Wednesday night after trying to help someone in need at the Dadeland North Metrorail Station, according to witnesses.
Cellphone video from one witness captured the incident just before 11 p.m.
The video shows the Metrorail rider on his knees while a security guard appears to have his arm around his neck. As one guard works to keep the man on the ground, the other is heard telling him to stay down.
With one hand in cuffs, the two struggle while the man is heard begging the guards to stop.
“Please, please,” he is heard saying in the video.
Alexandria Moore, who recorded the incident on her cellphone, said she didn’t understand why one security guard was so physical with the man from the start.
“It was actually the security guard who was acting very aggressively, yanking this young man out of the train, choking him on to the floor, pinning him down,” she said.
The man was placed in handcuffs as both guards waited for Miami-Dade police to arrive. According to officers, the man had given his Metrorail day pass to another rider and that is why the guards stopped him.
“He saw a gentleman who walking by that didn’t have any money to get home and since it was the end of his day, handed off his day pass,” Moore said.
Once police arrived, they found the man had paid his way and released him.
But the aggressive takedown by the Allied Universal security guards is not sitting well with commuters like Moore.
“I definitely feel like they could’ve talked to the gentleman a little better (and) not (have) been aggressive immediately,” she said.
Miami-Dade Transit officials said they are reviewing the video and investigating the incident.
“This incident is under investigation by our Office of Safety and Security,” Miami-Dade County Department of Transportation and Public Works spokeswoman Karla Damian said in a statement Thursday. “It has been made very clear to county employees, and contracted employees, that our residents and visitors are to be treated with the outmost respect and dignity.”
An Allied Universal spokeswoman released a statement Friday to Local 10 News saying the company is aware of the incident.
“Since this is an on-going investigation and details are being learned, we are unable to provide more information at this time,” the statement read.
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