City of Miami commissioners voted unanimously last night to fire the top cop of the Miami Police Department, Art Acevedo. According to the Miami New Times, the effort to oust Acevedo had some help from an unlikely source, namely the Proud Boys.
As reports points out, the hearing was based on a suspension letter City Manager Arthur Noriega had sent to Acevedo on Monday, charging him with "losing the confidence and trust of the department, issuing "unauthorized" threats about disciplining employees who didn't get vaccinated, hiring and firing department members without following protocol, and telling employees that the city and police department was run by a 'Cuban Mafia,'" according to the Daily Beast.
Noriega listed eight reasons as to why Acevedo should be ousted, one of them being that he engaged in an "ill-advised interaction" with a civilian -- who was a member of the Proud Boys -- during a Patria y Vida protest in July in Little Havana.
During Thursday hours-long commission hearing where the vote was held, a clip of the exchange between Acevedo and the member of the far-right group was played, where he walks up to Acevedo and asks why he hangs out with "communists" and "Black Lives Matter."
"Why do you care? Because that's my f***ing job!" Acevedo yells, moving in close to the Proud Boy's face, who the New Times identified as Ozzy Perez Cerezal, who is a member of the Vice City chapter of the Proud Boys in Miami — a chapter founded by former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio.
Acevedo's attorney asked Noriega if he knew that the man in the video was a Proud Boys, and Noriega replied that he didn't care.
"I don't care what he said to him. He's been a police chief for 15 years," Noriega said. "He acted inappropriately. He needs to set the example."