Two Orlando Police Department officers are the target of an internal investigation after body cam footage reveals a tense interaction.

  • 2 OPD officers under alleged misconduct, says Chief Mina
  • Body cam footage shows officers in tense interactions w/ 2 men
  • State Attorney Ayala ID'd misconduct, reviewed footage

Police Chief John Mina said he has "serious concerns about the interaction" the officers had with two men who were walking along the sidewalk headed to the city bus to get to work on Jan. 4.

One of them admitted to giving the officers a finger saying the officers were following them, but what happened next was all caught on the officers' body cameras.

In the body camera video, one officer asked a young man bundled up in a brown jacket, "When you flick us off, is there a reason for that?"

The young man continues to walk along the sidewalk said, "Freedom of speech, sir."

He then heads away from the officer to try to cross the street when the officer said, "And you know, you just jaywalked... give me your ID. Get over here. Where's your ID?"

Body cam footage from the two OPD officers shows the interaction between them and two men.

At the same time, an 18-year-old man walked up in a blue jean jacket, and the officer addresses him and told him, "You can keep going. This is our traffic stop — you've got to leave."

But things escalated quick when one of the officers made the teen put his hands behind his back, which prompted the man to ask, "Why y'all stopping me?"

The officer screams for him to put his hands behind his back and to stop resisting, to which the 18-year-old yells back that he is not resisting.

The 18-year-old was eventually put in the back of a police car and arrested. The other man who admitted to flipping off the officer was allowed to leave.

Chief Mina issued a statement in part that said, "Having access to this video footage is why we equipped our officers with body cameras to provide additional transparency and help us better understand what transpired."

State Attorney Aramis Ayala also told Spectrum News 13 that, “My office identified inappropriate conduct involving two OPD officers. As a result of reviewing the body cam footage, the case was immediately dropped." 

We reached out to the mother of the 18-year-old who told us that her son and their family friend were walking to catch the city bus to get to their jobs. She said seeing the video is disheartening and unacceptable.