WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – An Olympic athlete faced a judge for a second time after a confrontation with police officers in South Beach’s entertainment district led to his arrest.
Frederick Kerley stood before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ritamaria Cuervo, late Saturday morning.
Kerley, a former 100-meter world champion who won silver and bronze medals in the last two Summer Olympics, had been on the run from the law.
According to Miami-Dade Police, detectives had been looking for the Team USA sprinter since May 2024, when he was accused of strangling his wife twice.
“This is a domestic violence situation, strong-arm ronnery,” said a prosecutor during Saturday’s bond hearing.
Miami Beach Police officers caught up to the 29-year-old late Thursday night when, they said, he interfered with a crime scene on the 100 block of Ninth Street, between Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive.
Detectives said Kerley walked into an unrelated traffic stop as he was walking toward his car.
Police said he refused to get back or get away.
Cellphone, surveillance and body-worn camera video captured the moment officers deployed a Taser and took Kerley into custody. While the suspect is being held down and handcuffed by officers on the pavement, one officer is seen punching him multiple times.
Kerley’s girlfriend, reality TV star Cleo Rahman, provided 7News with cellphone video of the scuffle between officers and her boyfriend. She was also arrested for allegedly resisting arrest.
Rahman, who starred in the reality series “Bad Girls Club,” spoke with 7News after she bonded out of jail Friday.
“I was literally recoding because he’s an athlete, and I didn’t want anything to happen to him, and if something did happen to him, I wanted to make sure that I had the footage,” she said.
After Kerley was apprehended for this incident, he was charged in the domestic violence case.
His estranged wife appeared in bond court Saturday to speak with Cuervo.
“I want to proceed with pressing charges on him,” she told the judge.
Kerley remains behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade. He has posted bond, so he is expected to be released sometime on Saturday night.
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