Fla. cop seen slapping homeless man gives his account

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has released a report from the perspective of the officer who was filmed allegedly slapping an homeless man at a city bus terminal, reports CBS Miami.

The officer involved in the incident, Victor Ramirez, was working an off-duty detail, according to the station. He wrote that he thought the homeless man, Bruce Laclair, was going to attack him.

Ramirez wrote that he began to escort Laclair from the terminal after he caught him sleeping on the bus bench -- which violated terminal rules, according to the officer's report. He also claims that Laclair had been drunk, making it difficult, according to the station.

"Laclair pulled away from me in a violent manner. I reacted by pushing Laclair away from me to keep him from attacking me," Ramirez writes in the report, according to CBS Miami.

In the video, the officer is seen pushing the homeless man to the ground. According to the station, Laclair had told the officer he wanted to go the bathroom. The officer is then seen yelling expletives at him and then slaps and arrests Laclair for trespassing.

"I warned Laclair that I would hit him if he tried to grab me. When I grabbed Laclair by the arm to help him off the ground, Laclair tried to grab my wrist," Ramirez writes. "This time, I responded to Laclair's actions by striking him on the side of his face; I hit him one time with an open hand."

"My intent was to distract Laclair and keep him from grabbing me," he wrote in the report.

Laclair told CBS Miami a different story -- saying the officer had been the aggressor.

"This gentleman was clearly out of line," Laclair said in an interview with the station last week.

A Fort Lauderdale Police Spokesperson told CBS Miami the case remains an internal affairs investigation and that Ramirez remains on administrative leave with pay.

The station was also told the investigation could lead to criminal charges against Officer Ramirez.