In one of three clips, the women stand around Beeker as he sits on an ATV outside police headquarters.
"Thank you, Officer Will, for letting us go," the women shout in unison. One of the models who posted the shot wrote, "We ended up being good girls."
One of the women, former Playboy model Francia James, told WSVN today that she and two other women — Maddy Belle and Julianne Kissinger — who each have millions of followers online, were filming their own videos on the beach yesterday when Beeker appeared and asked to be a part of their skit. But after WSVN published its story, Police Chief Richard Clements suspended Beeker, who's been on the force for 11 years.
"After further review of the circumstances surrounding these videos, I have relieved Officer William Beeker of duty pending the outcome of our internal investigation," Clements said in a media release today.
This is not the first time even in the past 30 days that a Miami-area cop has been caught in a sexually inappropriate clip: At the end of September, a WTVJ investigative report uncovered footage of off-duty City of Miami cops standing around in a circle as a woman stood atop an MPD cruiser and twerked in front of them. For departments that historically have been staggeringly poor at investigating rapes, sexual assaults, domestic violence, and crimes against women, the videos raise huge red flags about whether certain cops are fit for duty. (In 2016, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found that a stunning 27 percent of untested rape kits statewide were sitting dormant in Miami-area police precincts, for example.)Miami Beach cop under investigation after appearing in "inappropriate" instagram videos with Playboy models #BecauseMiami https://t.co/TFkvf6skh9 pic.twitter.com/GU4Suw2Bzb
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) October 8, 2019
Astoundingly, this is not the first time Beeker has appeared in a video with dancing handcuffed women. In 2013, New Times and local blogger Bill Cooke reported that two Canadian tourists — sisters Angelina and Michelle Mastrangelo — accused Beeker of misconduct, saying he called them "dirty Canadians," "bitches," and "sluts" after he and another cop, Eduard Alba, arrested the pair for allegedly refusing their commands while drunk. New Times wrote in 2013:
Angelina, 24, alleges when she stood up, Beeker told her to "sit the fuck down, bitch." When she refused, he pushed her against a wall, pulled her to the ground, flipped her onto her stomach, and cuffed her, Angelina relays.The Mastrangelos ultimately refused to give a formal statement to internal investigators, and Beeker wound up keeping his job. But during the fallout, New Times reported that the department released two videos of Beeker and Alba in a police booking room while the Mastrangelo sisters sat handcuffed nearby. And, wouldn't you know it, the cuffed sisters somehow also ended up dancing inappropriately for the cops inside the station:
"He grabbed my sister by one arm and yanked her up," says Michelle, who is four years younger. "He dragged her to his cop car, threw her against the car, and told her: 'You are in my playground now, bitch.'" Michelle says Alba needlessly pointed his Taser at her.
It's unclear whether the officers encouraged the women to dance or otherwise act unruly, but after now appearing in an oddly similar clip, Beeker is off the street and working desk duty until the department finishes its investigation.
"These videos are highly offensive," Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales said today in a media release. "It is disgusting that a representative of the Miami Beach Police Department, and the City as a whole, would choose to participate in this distasteful video. He has made a mockery of the men and women of the MBPD who work hard each day to serve and protect our community and fight heinous acts such as human trafficking and other sexual crimes. We will not tolerate such behavior in our community."
