MIAMI — A sergeant from the Sunrise, Florida, Police Department has been relieved of his supervisory responsibilities and is the subject of an internal investigation after body cam footage from November released last week shows him grabbing an officer by her throat.
Citing the investigation, police released two body cam videos but not after turning off the sound and blurring the faces of all the officers that appear on camera with the exception of the sergeant.
In a news release sent Monday to the Herald, Sunrise Police Chief Anthony Rosa did not say the name of the sergeant or the officer he attacked on Nov. 19.
But WSVN Channel 7 — which first reported the incident — identified the sergeant as Christopher Pullease, 46, who the station said has been with the department for more than 21 years .
Rosa did not say when he relieved Pullease of his supervisory duties. Sunrise police also did not disclose the location of the incident.
“Upon hearing about this incident, I immediately relieved the sergeant of his supervisory responsibilities and ordered an internal affairs investigation. The sergeant has no contact or supervision over subordinate personnel,” Rosa said in the press release.
“I find this behavior to be disgusting,” Rosa told WSVN in an interview last week.
The videos show a sergeant who arrived on scene, Rosa said, as officers were placing a “verbally and physically resistive” male suspect into the backseat of a patrol vehicle for transport to jail, according to the news release.
The suspect — whom Rosa also did not identify — had been placed under arrest for a violent felony, according to Rosa.
“Once the suspect was inside the patrol vehicle, the sergeant approached and engaged in a verbal altercation with the suspect in a manner that I feel was inappropriate and unprofessional,” Rosa said in the news release. “This supervisor escalated the encounter instead of de-escalating an emotionally charged situation.”
While speaking to the suspect, the sergeant is seen on footage holding a can of pepper spray. Rosa told WSVN that Pullease was pointing it at the handcuffed suspect.
Concerned with things escalating further, an officer approached the sergeant from behind, grabbed him by the back of his duty belt and pulled him backwards, Rosa said in the release.
The video then shows the sergeant turning around, putting his left hand up against the throat of the officer and pushing her back against a vehicle.
The officer’s actions are in accordance with the police department’s policies and procedures “that call for intervention when there is an imminent fear of engagements escalating unnecessarily,” Rosa said.
“The men and women of the Sunrise Police Department are expected to de-escalate emotionally charged situations and intervene immediately if it appears that a fellow officer is losing control of themselves or displaying inappropriate conduct while engaged with the public,” Rosa said in the release.
