An Uber passenger became involved in a heated argument when an agitated officer pulled over his driver and led him away in handcuffs.
Video footage shows the driver looking out of the backseat after being picked up from Miami International Airport on Saturday.
The clip begins with the car already pulled over and we hear the officer asking the Uber driver, who is wearing a sweatband around his curly black hair, for his driver’s license, registration number and insurance papers.
According to Miami-Dade police, the Uber blocked traffic while dropping off a passenger at an unauthorized location at Miami International Airport, WSVN reported.
The Uber driver seemed startled when he had to relay the information from various locations in his vehicle. But when he asked for more time to gather the documents, the officer seemed to see it as a delaying tactic.
Pictured: The Uber driver at Miami airport who was eventually arrested by a police officer
The driver looked nervously at his passenger, whom he had probably only known for two minutes, and asked him to write down what was going on.
The passenger softly confirmed that he was already rolling, apparently not wanting to attract attention.
Shortly thereafter, the officer made his first threat to the driver, asking for his insurance information.
“Are you going to give it to me?” the officer asked. “Or are you going to get out of the car?”
After the driver checked with the officer what documents he wanted and whether he could take them, he began rummaging through his glove compartment.
He appeared to hand over his driver’s license before telling the officer, “It’s Saturday, we’re both at work. I’m just dropping someone off.”
He is interrupted because the officer does not want him to draw a comparison between their two jobs.
“We’re not doing the same thing, sir. I’m providing safety and security, and you’re blocking the road,” the officer said.
The two got into a heated argument, which ultimately led to the officer stating that he was older and had more life experience.
The passenger captures the moment the officer leads away the driver, who is bound by his wrists with handcuffs
“I’m older. I have more experience. You’re younger, and I wish you would listen more than you spoke. That’s why God gave you two ears and one mouth. You listen more than you speak.
“Give me your registration and your insurance. I’m not here to put up with your nonsense.”
The driver called the officer “aggressive” and said, “There’s a way to do it.”
“I’m sorry if you feel that way, but you have to do as you’re told,” the officer replies.
When the driver doesn’t immediately hand over the documents and instead lectures him about how nice and humane he should be, the officer threatens to pull him out of the car again.
“This is not normal. This is not normal,” the driver repeats in disbelief, looking back at the passenger camera.
The tension mounted until the officer lost his composure. He grabbed all the papers that were on the driver’s lap.
“Give me the registration certificate and give me the damn insurance and stop playing this game,” the officer said as he ripped the registration certificate from the driver’s hands.
He also told the driver that if he “resisted” him, he would “be in the news.”
Eventually the driver was able to pull up his insurance card on his phone and said it was a screenshot.
That was a wrong comment.
“You have to have physical insurance,” the officer told him.
Under Florida state law, this is incorrect.
Uber driver is pulled out of car by officer after failing to produce physical copy of his insurance card
The officer throws the driver against the window of his own car before handcuffing him
Here, the passenger leans over to film the officer handcuffing his Uber driver
Florida’s 2023 laws state that proof of motor vehicle insurance ‘must be in a uniform paper or electronic format.
Florida is one of 49 states – and Washington DC – where residents can show their auto insurance on their phones.
New Mexico is the only state that does not explicitly accept an electronic insurance card.
Police officials confirmed that, contrary to what the officer said, an electronic insurance card is valid during a traffic stop.
When the driver finally confirmed that he did not have a paper copy of his insurance, the two continued to misunderstand each other.
The officer was heard fiddling with the handcuffs and began to pull the driver out of the car, with the driver reminding him that his car was still in gear.
Once the vehicle was parked, the officer immediately yanked him out of his seat and threw him against the window.
He then bent him over the still open driver’s door and ordered him to put his hands behind his back.
Vehicles drive through the departure hall at Miami International Airport on July 3, 2024.
The passenger leaned over and watched as the officer tightened the handcuffs around the driver’s wrists before pulling him back toward the squad car.
He was led backwards to the police car and placed inside.
Investigators told WSVN that the Uber driver did not comply with commands and was detained, but not arrested.
The three-minute video of the arrest received more than 14,000 likes on TikTok and nearly 4,500 comments as of Monday morning.
Many viewers felt the officer was exercising a power grab, while others felt he should be fired for his behavior.
Viewers of the TikTok video responded to the officer’s behavior during the confrontation with the Uber driver in the comments
“That was so outrageous. That officer was way out of line and needs to face the consequences – I’m sure this isn’t the first time he’s acted like this,” one person wrote.
Others noted that the agent does not understand the legislation regarding electronic insurance cards. For example, one said that she has been driving for ten years and has never had a problem showing her insurance card on her phone.
A popular Instagram account that shares Miami-Dade content reposted this videowhere it received almost as much interaction as on TikTok.
Team South Florida, a nonprofit that supports the families of fallen officers, responded to the video’s repost on Instagram.
“This is one we cannot stand behind. To our law enforcement family, embrace this, learn from it and do better,” the organization wrote.
“We are the first to defend law enforcement when we are right. However, we cannot and should not ignore when we are wrong.
“The only excuse we could come up with was a bad day, a tough previous call, or an ego/attitude problem. None of those are excuses.”
DailyMail.com has reached out to Miami-Dade police for comment.