Just before 11 p.m. this past Monday, Pinecrest police responded to a mansion just off Old Cutler Road to reports that a naked intruder was terrorizing the home's owners. The cops found a 43-year-old man in the buff, and when he attacked police, they hit him with a Taser. He died soon afterward.
Today, it seems certain the naked man was in fact one of the most famous bodyguards on Earth. Norman Oosterbroek, who made his name protecting Nelson Mandela, founded celebrity bodyguard agency RAD Security and personally watched over Jay Z, Lady Gaga, and other notables. How did he end up nude and fighting police in Pinecrest?
This much is certain, according to Miami-Dade police: The Pinecrest homeowners, Markus and Christiane Jung, called police at 10:45 p.m. Monday to report the naked intruder.
When officers arrived, they found Markus and Oosterbroek violently fighting. During the melee, cops saw Oosterbroek "ingesting an unknown substance." When officers tried to intervene, Oosterbroek violently resisted, so cops used a Taser, which led to his death.
"We're still awaiting toxicology reports this morning," Det. Javier Baez, a MDPD spokesman, tells Riptide.
NBC6 was the first to report that Oosterbroek was a celebrity bodyguard, based on an anonymous source. But most other media sources, including the Miami Herald, have held off on that news. Baez says he also can't confirm Oosterbroek's identity.
However, at least two Dutch websites are reporting this morning that Oosterbroek's company, RAD, confirmed to a radio station in the Netherlands that the man killed in Miami was indeed the company's founder. (Riptide also sent a message to RAD's Dutch headquarters; we'll update this post when we hear back.)
If true, it's a stunningly strange end to Oosterbroek's tale. He founded RAD Security in his homeland after his successful stint with Mandela. According to a Variety profile in 2011, the firm grew into "one of the largest global music celebrity protection firms."
RAD's roster at the time included Beyoncé, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Drake, and Kanye West.
"It's a different age now," one of Oosterbroek's partners, James Andrea, told Variety of their formula for success. "You have to be more in tune with technology; it's much harder, especially with cameras and phones. There's a lot you have to be on top of."
Oosterbroek personally led details for Lady Gaga often enough that he earned his own page on the fan site Gagapedia, featuring candid shots of the burly, bearded bodyguard shepherding the tiny pop star to safety.
How did one of the most famous bodyguards on the planet come to such a bizarre death in Pinecrest? Until police release more information, that's a mystery. We'll update this post as more news breaks on the case today.
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
