Cop Caught On Camera Slapping Homeless Man Found Not Guilty

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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A Fort Lauderdale police officer caught on camera slapping a homeless man was found not guilty of battery.

Jurors spent Wednesday weighing whether officer Victor Ramirez battered Bruce LaClair at a bus terminal in February of 2015 and lied about it in an official report.

Ramirez took the witness stand Wednesday.

Ramirez told jurors he had a verbal and threatening run-in with LaClair two weeks before the incident.

When he saw LaClair on Feb. 22nd, Ramirez told him what needed to happen.

Ramirez said he planned to escort LaClair out of the terminal.

"I don't care where you go, I just need you to move along," Ramirez explained in court.

He described the video, saying after he grabbed LaClair by the arm and LaClair tried to pull away.

"He's in the process of a preemptive strike," he told the court.

And that led to the shove.

Ramirez said he wanted to help LaClair up, but LaClair made a move towards him.

"This was the second time he showed aggression towards me. He just tried to turn on me. I had to take action," Ramirez said.

LaClair testified on Tuesday that once Ramirez woke him up by shaking him with his foot, he was going to leave and wanted to go to the bathroom.

"I was shocked that he had knocked me to the ground," LaClair said.

In closing arguments, prosecutor Brian Killoran called Ramirez's actions excessive force and that it crossed the line.

But defense attorney Michael Dutko told jurors that there were signs stating that homeless people cannot sleep at the bus terminal, and that LaClair was angry and hostile towards Ramirez.

Dutko said that LaClair might have been ready to grab the officer and what Ramirez did by slapping LaClair was part of his training.

A defense expert who trains police officers told jurors that what Ramirez did was within the law and appropriate for the situation.

Ramirez is suspended without pay from the police department.

CBS4's Carey Codd was told Ramirez would have lost his job if convicted.

Now that he wasn't found guilty, he will be suspended with pay while internal affairs does their investigation.