Miami police chief flashed identical ‘OK’ hand gesture in previous picture as officer he suspended, union says

A police union in Miami shared a year-old picture of Chief Artwork Acevedo showing to flash the identical “OK” hand gesture he suspended an officer for utilizing final week amid allegations it represented “White energy.”

“‘Do as I say not as I do’ I suppose it [is] what we should always get used to any longer,” Miami Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 20 tweeted, sharing a picture of Acevedo when he was nonetheless Houston’s police chief. 

Artwork Acevedo in 2020.  (@miamifop/Twitter)

The picture reveals Acevedo throughout a go to to Jack Yates Excessive College in Houston final summer season. That’s the identical highschool George Floyd graduated from in 1993, and Acevedo visited on June 13, 2020 for a memorial following Floyd’s demise in Minneapolis, which prompted nationwide protests and rioting. 

DC FIRE RECRUITS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR FLASHING ‘OK’ SIGN IN PHOTO, ‘WHITE POWER’ SYMBOL OR ‘CIRCLE GAME’?

Acevedo is seen utilizing a gesture referred to as the “tre,” which represents Houston’s Third Ward, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez defined to WSVN, arguing it “had nothing to do with White energy.” 

However Miami Fraternal Order of Police President Tommy Reyes mentioned the hand symbols Acevedo is making “are the identical actual” of these Miami Police Officer Daniel Ubeda is making in a distinct {photograph} for which he was relieved of responsibility. Acevedo launched an inside affairs investigation into Ubeda after a commander tweeted {a photograph} earlier within the week of his officers following a drug bust. 

Miami Police Officer Daniel Ubeda.  (@commandermitch1/Twitter)

The picture reveals Ubeda and 6 different uniformed officers standing in a line. Ubeda seems to make the “OK” image with each palms, displaying three fingers on every. Reyes mentioned Ubeda was referencing the six different colleagues on his shift, and the hand gestures had been meant as an “inside joke” along with his co-workers.

However the Anti-Defamation League mentioned the “OK” hand gesture, an historic image used to point consent, approval or well-being, has been co-opted by White supremacists lately to symbolize the letters “wp,” which are supposed to stand for “White Energy.” 

The commander who tweeted the picture is Black, Reyes mentioned. The picture was taken down inside 48 hours of the controversy, and the commander has since made his Twitter account non-public. 

Ubeda was the identical officer who went viral final October for sporting a face masks emblazoned with the message “Trump 2020 No extra bull****” whereas in police uniform at a polling station. He was reprimanded over the incident for breaking coverage prohibiting political messaging whereas in uniform, WPLG reported.

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In a letter despatched final week, the union president demanded Acevedo reinstate Ubeda to his full duties, clear him of any wrongdoing and apologize, categorizing the chief’s transfer to droop the officer as a “knee jerk response.” 

“This impulsive conduct has develop into a traditional incidence right here on the Miami Police Division within the final 4 months since your arrival and is unacceptable,” Reyes mentioned. 

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