A Miami Beach cop received a four-week suspension Monday as punishment for an incident in which he punched and tried to kick a woman while she was handcuffed.
On June 26, 2013, Officer Philippe Archer was recorded on a security camera punching model Megan Adamescu in the head after she kicked him in the leg while she was handcuffed. (Watch the video above.)
According to the Miami Herald, Adamescu was drunk that night in the lobby of the South Bay Club in South Beach and would not leave.
Archer escorted Adamescu outside, where he noted in the arrest report that she was too drunk to give him her identification. Archer took her purse to get her ID himself, which agitated Adamescu.
Archer, who is black, reported that Adamescu started using racial slurs at the detective.
A passerby, Andrew Mossberg, saw this and thought he was witnessing a mugging. He decided to intervene. According to the police investigation, Mossberg called the police and stepped in even after Archer identified himself. Adamescu then hit a distracted Archer, who struck her and Mossberg in the ensuing struggle.
The Miami New Times published a photo in August 2013 of Mossberg with a swollen face after the altercation.
According to CBS Miami, Archer has been a defendant in several other lawsuits involving excessive force, including Guy Moulin, who settled with the city for $60,000 in 2013 after he alleged he was beaten by Archer.
Miami Beach police on Monday released the video of Archer's altercation with Adamescu, along with 500 pages of investigation material.
“This officer should have been fired,” Mossberg's attorney, Ray Taseff, told CBS. "Mr. Mossberg does the right thing and makes the right call, and he is then retaliated against by Officer Archer."
A state attorney and the FBI chose not to prosecute Archer after the incident. According to a memo provided to the Miami New Times, prosecutors did not think the video was clear enough to "prove a criminal intent on the part of the subject."
Adamescu and Mossberg plan to sue the city, CBS Miami reports. Archer will be allowed to serve his four-week suspension two days at a time, over the course of several months.