Video shows Florida officer throwing peanuts at homeless man

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A police officer was caught on video tossing peanuts into a homeless inmate’s mouth as he was being booked into the Sarasota County, Florida, jail, the Herald Tribune reports.

Randy Miller, 44, can be seen trying to pick up the peanuts from the ground after he missed them with his mouth. Sarasota Police Officer Andrew Halpin then kicked some of the nuts toward the man with his boot.

A source told the Herald-Tribune that Halpin also gave Miller “dog commands” and laughed at him.

Other officers in the room, one a Venice police officer, can be seen observing Halpin’s actions but making no effort to stop him. The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and the Sarasota Police Department had no idea about the event until they were contacted by the Herald-Tribune.

After watching the video Monday morning, Police Chief Bernadette DiPino suspended Halpin, who was hired by the department in 2006.

“Based on the actions in the video, I immediately initiated an internal investigation on Officer Halpin,” DiPino told the Herald-Tribune. “I’m disappointed in what I observed in the video, and placed the officer on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Halpin arrested Miller around 10 p.m. July 18 for trespassing and failing to leave a property when ordered to do so by the owner. According to police records, Miller has been arrested 22 times in the past two years in Sarasota County for trespassing, refusing to leave and drinking in public, the Daily News reports.

Michael Barfield, vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, told the Herald-Tribune that such behavior by Sarasota police officers is not surprising and that the county is “labeled as the ‘meanest city in the USA’ towards the homeless.”

“Florida law allows for enhanced penalties when crimes are committed that show prejudice against the homeless,” Barfield told the Herald-Tribune.

Miller remains in the Sarasota County jail.