Fla. man claims police brutality after alleged beating caught on video

(CBS) NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - A South Florida man says he was viciously beaten at the hands of a North Miami Beach police officer and he wants the department to launch an internal affairs investigation, CBS Miami reports.

The alleged beating was reportedly captured on cell phone video last Thursday around midnight outside the gay strip club Swinging Richards, according to the station.

The video footage shows a man wearing a police uniform striking another man on the ground.

Tim Twilligear says he was the man being beaten.

"I was just screaming, 'Why are you beating me?' And then he'd say 'Stop resisting' and he'd hit me again," Twilligear told CBS Miami.

Twilligear said he was leaving the club when he got into a tense verbal exchange with an employee. He said he extended his arms to keep the man away from him, but the employee shoved him.

According to the arrest affidavit, police say Twilligear put both his hands on the man's chest and pushed him, despite warnings to leave.

The report said, and Twilligear confirmed, the officer deployed a taser.

Despite the debilitating shock, Twilligear said he tried to leave, but before he could drive off, he claims out-of-control cops smashed his car windows and viciously beat him.

The affidavit states Twilligear "exited the vehicle walking toward officers with his hands balled up."

Twilligear said an officer proceeded to brutally beat him.

"Someone grabbed me by my head," Twilligear said. "I was punched in the head. I have a big knot right here."

As the alleged beating unfolded, Twilligear's friend, Victor, reportedly started videotaping the incident on his cell phone camera.

Victor, who did not want to be more fully identified, said the cop tried to take his cell phone away. But when Victor tried to withhold his phone from the officer, he says he was arrested and accused of resisting arrest.

"I don't think it was necessary to go that far," Victor told the station.

Twilligear was also taken into custody and was charged with resisting arrest, both with and without violence, and two counts of simple battery, the station reports.

Twilligear maintains he was not resisting arrest, and was only trying to find out what he was being arrested for.

Twilligear and his attorney, Michael Grieco, filed a complaint with the police department Monday afternoon.

"I'm livid over it," Grieco said. "I'm going to do everything in my power to protect my client to make sure justice is served."

A spokesperson for the police department said the formal complaint paperwork had not been filed as of Monday night and no internal affairs investigation had been opened as of that time.