The Homestead police chief is pushing back against what he calls misinformation on social media following the arrest of a man accused of hitting three people with a car.
“Let me be absolutely clear this had nothing to do with immigration. Which is being fed to you. Do you know the immigration status of the three victims? Good becauMario se neither do we,” Chief Mario Knapp said in an Instagram post.
Knapp said posts circulating on Instagram falsely claimed the man was arrested by Homestead Police on behalf of ICE. He used both his personal and the department’s social media pages to clarify the department’s role in the arrest.
“When they ended up posting it, it started getting more attention. People started sending it to me, and I don’t believe that you can stay quiet on things like that because of the fear it is causing to the community,” Knapp said.
Arrest captured attention on social media
The arrest stemmed from a July 13 incident in which three people were hit by a car. According to an arrest affidavit, 20-year-old Raul Sales Domingo was arrested at a Homestead meat market after one of the victims contacted police.
“Our crimes suppression team is a unit that just started less than a month ago. They went out there and plain clothes as they do and they quickly very quickly deployed took the subject into custody with no incident,” Knapp said.
The arrest video circulated widely, drawing attention from local crime-focused Instagram accounts.
Crime page responds to chief’s remarks
CBS News Miami spoke to Jonathan Osbun, the owner of the “Homestead Crimes” Instagram page, who responded to Knapp’s comments.
“We’re not here to badmouth the police, but when the chief comes after us social media who are out here every day, along with their police department, seeing stuff along with the community, who are forwarding videos to us about Homestead, we’re going to expose it,” Osbun said.
Knapp emphasizes public safety over immigration status
Knapp said the department’s focus remains on law enforcement and public safety.
“If you see something if you hear something. If you’re the victim of some thing do not hesitate to call the police. That’s what we’re here for because we’re going to provide public safety and we’re going to enforce the law, independent of immigration status,” he said.
He added that using social media helps the department build transparency and strengthen community relationships.
