Brian Olmo | Editor-in-Chief
An FIU graduate student was hogtied by North Miami Beach police in February, as shown by body camera footage.
Matteo Falcinelli, a 26-year-old Italian student currently pursuing his master’s, was arrested outside of Dean’s Gold strip club – only seven minutes away from the Biscayne Bay Campus.
Arrest reports indicate that Falcinelli spent $500 at the club and asked for his money back. After refusing to leave the property and “intentionally touching” two off-duty police officers, Falcinelli was slammed to the ground and taken into custody.
[embeddoc url=”https://panthernow.com/wp-content/uploads/matteofalcinelliarrest.pdf”]Body camera footage later shows Falcinelli being put on the ground and hogtied by officers in a cell. Falcinelli can be heard screaming “I have my rights!” and “I’m not doing anything!” as officers tighten his restraints.
Falcinelli was then allegedly left tied up on the floor for 12 minutes.
Footage can be found here. Viewer discretion is advised. Some may find the content disturbing.
The arrest has caused an outcry from the Italian government, with the minister of foreign affairs Antonio Tajani condemning the arrest for its violence.
As of April, Falcinelli has since entered a deferred prosecution agreement to avoid jail time. He was charged with two felony batteries and a misdemeanor for resisting police without violence. A misdemeanor for trespassing was dropped.
This is a developing story. We will update as the situation progresses.
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