But the video also reveals cops also became pretty unruly. An Instagram post uploaded after the event shows a short MPD officer violently shoving a taller, black attendee who had his hands in the air. The man seemed to simply be trying to exit the crowd when enraged-looking cops put their hands on him.
"SMH TREATING PEOPLE LIKE DOGS," the person who filmed the video, user @sole_lifted, wrote online.
WSVN first reported today that the Miami Police Department said it had to break up the sneaker-release event because of huge, uncontrollable crowds. But it now appears MPD's crowd-control method included using riot-control shields to whack people and shoving them out of something that resembled a mosh pit. The Miami company that organized the event, Sole Fly, tweeted the situation had become unsafe and was, therefore, canceled.
As safety is our number one priority, we’ve had to cancel our release today. We will reschedule our launch for a future date, thank you.
— Sole Fly (@SOLEFLY) December 8, 2018
Chief Jorge Colina said this afternoon that the department has seen the video. An internal affairs investigation has been opened.Below is Chief Colina’s statement regarding the incident involving our officers, which occurred during a sneaker release at Club Eleven: pic.twitter.com/kSmCpq0uUV
— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) December 10, 2018
