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A security video that shows a man walking into a Miami Springs dance studio and pressing his face into a couch cushion where a person had just been sitting has sparked widespread outrage online, but police say no criminal charges will be filed.
The incident occurred late Tuesday evening in the lobby of Starlight Dance Studio, a children’s dance school in the small municipality, according to a police incident report obtained by New Times.
The 30-second video clip, which clearly has been remixed, shows a pixelated figure standing up from a gray couch and exiting the premises. A bespectacled man wearing dark shorts and a gray shirt enters through the same door, looks around, then bends over and buries his face in the couch cushions.
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Miami Springs Police Chief Matthew Castillo confirmed to New Times that the studio’s owners contacted his department after seeing the CCTV footage.
“The Miami Springs Police Department is aware of a video currently circulating online involving an individual inside a local dance studio,” Castillo said in a written statement. “Upon receiving the report, our officers initiated a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the incident.”
According to a Miami Springs Police Department incident report obtained by New Times, a dance studio employee described the suspect as a white Hispanic male, approximately five-foot-six, with black combed hair, who was wearing a gray Adidas polo shirt, black shorts, and glasses.
“She observed the listed subject on the business’s CCTV footage entering the establishment while holding a cellphone in his hand,” the report states. “The subject was then seen approaching and sniffing the cushion of a couch located in the lobby area of the business and fleeing in an unknown direction of travel.”
The witness said she subsequently observed a white SUV without headlights traveling northbound toward Hialeah.
Miami Springs detectives used facial-recognition software to identify the man as a 38-year-old Miami Springs resident and cross-referenced that information with an automated license-plate reader system that showed his vehicle near the dance studio moments after he left.
According to the incident report, officers went to the suspect’s home on Thursday.
“Contact was made with [the suspect] at his residence,” a supplemental report states. “[He] was spoken to about the incident that occurred and was informed that he cannot go back to the dance studio.”
The report classifies the case as a “suspicious incident” and notes that the suspect also has a pending investigation with the Hialeah Police Department.
New Times is not naming the suspect because no charges were filed.
Hialeah Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from New Times on Friday.
Chief Castillo praised the studio’s owners for contacting law enforcement as soon as they saw the footage.
“The individual depicted in the video has been identified and, at this time, it has been determined that he has no affiliation or connection to the dance studio,” the chief added in his statement to New Times. “Our department worked closely with the State Attorney’s Office and presented all available information for review. Following that review, it was determined that no criminal charges will be filed.”
The video clip, which surfaced early Thursday on X (formerly Twitter) account Unlimited L’s, was further amplified on other social media platforms and on the tabloid site TMZ. By Friday afternoon, it had been viewed more than 6 million times, fueling debate among parents and other commenters as to whether the behavior, widely described as “creepy” and “disturbing,” should be a crime.
