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The City of Miami will pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging one of its police officers falsely arrested comedian Hannibal Buress in 2017 on a bogus disorderly intoxication charge.
On Thursday morning, several weeks after Buress and the city’s attorneys decided to settle the 2020 case — in which Buress alleged that Miami Police Department (MPD) officer Luis Verne arrested him on a bogus charge after he mocked him during a night out in Wynwood in 2017 — city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the settlement with the comedian.
Buress is a stand-up comedian best known for his work on The Eric Andre Show and his acting role as Lincoln Rice on Broad City. His attorney didn’t respond to New Times’ request for comment.
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On December 9, 2017, Buress was walking to his hotel from a Wynwood bar after a night of drinking with friends during Art Basel when he asked Verne if he could give the officer $20 to call him an Uber ride to his hotel because his phone battery was dead. Verne declined. After a verbal exchange about women Buress had seen Verne flirting with, Verne ordered him off the street. Buress went into a bar seeking a charger or help, but Verne followed and again told him to leave for being “too drunk.” Outside, Verne activated his body camera, capturing the encounter that led to Buress’ arrest.
Buress stepped in front of Verne and said into his body-worn camera: “Hey, what’s up?! It’s me, Hannibal Buress! This cop is stupid as fuck.”
The cop, officer Luis Verne, cautioned Buress to leave (and had reportedly done so several times previously), but as captured in body-worn camera footage later released by the police department, Buress continued talking into Verne’s camera: “Hey, what’s up, YouTube!”
“All right,” Verne replied, “put your hands behind your back.”
Verne arrested Buress for misdemeanor disorderly intoxication, a charge prosecutors would later drop. (Buress claimed that Verne arrested him because he was “just salty that he roasted his ass.”)
In July 2020, three years after the incident, Buress filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the police department, and two Miami police officers, Verne and Elio Villegas. Buress alleged wrongful arrest and claimed that Villegas, who arrived after the arrest, failed to intervene. He contended that the “false” arrest caused him to lose gigs and suffer emotional distress.
The federal lawsuit stalled for years in Florida’s Southern District Court as Villegas filed motions to dismiss the claims, stating that he didn’t know the arrest was unlawful and that his participation was covered by what is known as qualified immunity, the legal principle that shields cops from being sued personally for actions on the job.
In June 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied Villegas’ motion to dismiss and barred him from claiming qualified immunity, clearing the way for the case to proceed. The city was dismissed from the lawsuit this past April, and in November, Buress and the city’s attorneys ultimately reached a settlement.
As New Times previously reported, almost a year before Verne arrested Buress, in January 2017, the officer had violently choked a man and slammed his head into a railing at Miller’s Ale House in Kendall after knocking back some drinks with fellow off-duty officers. A witness said Verne had “attacked” the man, though the cops claimed the Ale House guest had hurled “obscene” comments at Verne, including calling him a “pig.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
