Police Officer Andrew Halpin Caught On Video Taunting Homeless Man [Video]


A Sarasota police officer by the name of Andrew Halpin was caught on video this week taunting a homeless man who had been arrested for trespassing. In the now viral video, Halpin can be seen throwing peanuts at the elderly man, treating him like a circus elephant. After the video had surfaced, an internal affairs investigation was launched against Andrew Halpin, who has since been suspended, reports the Daily Mail.

According to NBC News, the July 18th tape shows the police officer, Andrew Halpin, tossing peanuts while booking a homeless man named Randy Miller at the Sarasota County Jail. The homeless man is seated and handcuffed – and in the video opens his mouth “like a circus animal.” It’s presumed Miller was directed by Halpin to open and close his mouth to catch the peanuts.

Miller was arrested after a store clerk called the police, complaining that the homeless man was extremely drunk and refused to leave his store. It was after his arrest that Officer Andrew Haplin, who has been with the Sarasota Police since 2006, began to torment the prisoner.

As the footage of Andrew Halpin proceeds, viewers can see Miller slumping to the floor to eat the peanuts off the floor as Officer Andrew Halpin talks to him like a dog and kicks the nuts toward him, according to the Daily Mail. Instead of intervening, two other officers in the background watch Andrew toss peanuts at Randy, humiliating the man. Miller appears to be intoxicated.

The video of Halpin carelessly throwing peanuts at the defenseless man was made public July 28th by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, who received the video through a public records request, reports NBC News.

Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino confessed to NBC station WFLA that she was not aware of the incident involving Officer Halpin until the video was made public.

“I’m disappointed in what I saw in this video,” DiPino told the news station. “Due to the actions I’ve seen on camera, I immediately initiated an internal affairs investigation.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida determined that Andrew Halpin’s treatment of the harmless Miller was “humiliating.” The ACLU is demanding that Officer Halpin be fired.

As reported by the Daily Mail, the incident with Andrew Halpin is in stark contrast a story that surfaced last week when a Florida officer named Erica Hay bought a homeless man breakfast. The officer told reporters, “He was just there by himself alone, so I just grabbed food and went back to eat with him.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wPq0kjqRMU

[Image Via YouTube Screencap]

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