-Jasmine Dyer-

Cousins!

A Miami-Dade police officer has been placed on desk duty after he was captured on camera telling a black driver, “this is how you guys get killed out here” during a traffic stop. 

The incident occurred in June North Miami Beach while the motorist, Gerardson Nicolas, was driving to work. According to NBC Miami, Nicolas admitted he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt when he was stopped on Northeast 159th Street near 18th Avenue. 

There’s now a @MiamiDadePD Internal Affairs investigation after an officer last week said “this is how you guys get killed out here man,” during a traffic stop in which a man was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. The driver says he was targeted because he is Black. @wsvn pic.twitter.com/75O0ETPDDI

— Sheldon Fox-7 News (@fox_sheldon) June 20, 2022

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The encounter was recorded by Nicolas and has since gone viral on TikTok. The officer can be heard making demands before seemingly threatening the driver’s life. 

“Give me your driver’s license, registration, and insurance. If not, you will not be going to work today,” the officer said. “Simple thing, man. This is how you guys get killed out here, man.” 

“What? Say that again? Say what you just said,” Nicolas responds in the video. “Registration and insurance,” the officer responds after realizing Nicolas was recording him. 

According to Black Enterprise, Nicolas recorded the situation out of fear for his life. Many Social media users believe that was a good decision since the result of the traffic stop could have been worse than the video shows. 

“I was scared, I was scared. I didn’t think my life was going to make it,” he told reporters. “When he asked me for my license, open the door, I started recording. I was looking for my stuff, my license, because I didn’t see my wallet. I was looking for my wallet and that wasn’t my car, that was my mom’s car and I didn’t know where the registration was, I was looking, looking. He got mad.” 

The Miami Herald reports that Nicholas received a ticket for driving while his license was suspended, not having a valid license tag, and not having insurance.

Earlier this week, Nicolas filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade police department officers. An internal investigation is underway to review the 30 minutes of body cam footage.