Miami Beach woman confronted by police after Facebook post about city's mayor demands full investigation
Raquel Pacheco said she has "hope" after seeing the worldwide reaction to the video she posted of two Miami Beach police detectives showing up at her house because she had posted a critical comment on Facebook about Miami Beach Mayor Steve Meiner.
"I'm very surprised," she told CBS News Miami in an interview for "Facing South Florida." "I'm shocked, actually, by just how the story has grown legs and taken over. It's made national news and global news, and the reaction from the public is just, you know, overwhelming, overwhelmingly positive. It gives me hope."
When asked why, Pacheco said it's because it's "a perfect example of Americans coming together around one issue we can all get behind, which is freedom of speech, the First Amendment [and] the Constitution."
"It's amazing to see people from all different types of political backgrounds, including extreme GOP MAGAs, reaching out to me personally and saying, `Hey, I don't agree with you on anything, but on this, I'm with you,'" she said. "So it gives me hope in the sense that it's really good to see Americans just get down to our core values and stand together on issues that really matter."
Pacheco said she is still pushing for an investigation into what happened. And she wants to know if the police have gone to other individuals who posted comments critical of Meiner.
"I want an investigation to find out if this is a common practice at City Hall, if it's routine for them to peruse Facebook posts and then send out the police knocking on people's doors," she said. "I'd like to know how many other doors they've knocked on, or if this was just a one-off here with me and if I'm just being personally targeted."
Miami Beach woman questioned by police over Facebook comment about the city's mayor
The video of the incident raises several serious questions. In the video, the two detectives confront Pacheco and show her the Facebook post.
Detective: "Is that your account?"
Pacheco: "I refuse to answer questions without my lawyer present, so I really don't know how to answer that question."
Detective: "Like I said, you're not going to jail."
Pacheco: "This is freedom of speech. This is America, right?"
Now, at that point, you would have thought the detectives would back off. After all, she made it clear she didn't want to answer their questions, and she invoked her right to have an attorney present. But they pressed forward anyway, with one of the detectives reading her Facebook post to her.
Detective: "The guy who consistently calls for the death of all Palestinians, tried to shut down a theater for showing a movie that hurt his feelings, and refuses to stand up for the LGBTQ community in any way [even leaves the room when they vote on related matters] wants you to know that you're all welcome here. Clown face. Clown face. Clown face. Was that you?"
Pacheco: "I'm not going to answer whether that's me or not."
One of the detectives then warned her that her post could incite others to violence, and she should refrain from posting things like that in the future.
The Miami Herald reported that the instruction to send the police to Pacheco's home came from the mayor's office – but the police chief last week said it was his decision and his decision alone. Pacheco, however, doesn't believe the department's response.
"I don't believe it because the initial report came directly from the police department and it was very clear," she said. "The Miami Herald reported that the directive came from the mayor's office in the form of an email. We have made a records request for that email."
Pacheco said she has filed a public records request for that email, but the city has not responded to her request.