Trial begins for ex-Miami Gardens cop accused of placing knee on woman’s neck – NBC 6 South Florida
A trial began Wednesday for a former Miami Gardens Police officer who was caught on camera allegedly pulling a woman out of her car and placing his knee on her neck.
The incident happened January 2020 in front of Tootsie’s Cabaret on 183rd Street in Miami. The State Attorney’s Office filed charges against Jordy Yanes Martel five months later.
Prosecutors say Safiya Satchell got kicked out of the club for throwing money at a waitress. Satchell testified the food service wasn’t great and felt uneasy. The club manager testified he wanted Satchell banned, but not arrested.
Martel is facing two counts of official misconduct, four battery charges, and one trespassing charge. Body camera and witness video shows Martel, who was working outside security that day, approaching Satchell who was inside her car at this point.
“As he pulls her out of the car, she’s flailing her car, she’s upset because she’s telling him, ‘Stop what you are doing,'” said Kioceaia Stenson, an assistant state attorney. “And while she’s on the ground, the defendant puts his knee on her neck.”
Martel’s attorneys claim he was just doing his job and Satchell was not cooperating with orders and that she was fighting back and allegedly hit Martel.
“That my client is attempting to gain control of the arrestee and you see the leg not the knee, the leg on a chest or neck area,” said Martel’s attorney, David Braun.
Jurors heard from state attorneys and defense attorneys Wednesday. They also heard from the special agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the agency in charge of investigating misconduct.
FDLE agent Gaylon White said Martel didn’t mention in the incident paperwork that he placed his knee on the victim’s neck and instead wrote he was helping her.
“He said he helped her out of the vehicle. From me viewing the video, that didn’t seem, in my opinion, that he helped her out of the vehicle. He pulled her out of the vehicle,” White said.
The state rested Wednesday and the trial continues Thursday.
