REVEALED: Bodycam reveals Florida officer yelled ‘I will remove your f***ing soul’ at black man during arrest before he choked a female cop who tried to pull him off the suspect

• Christopher Pullease is under criminal investigation for the November incident
• The Sunrise, Florida police sergeant assaulted a 27-year-old female officer after threatening to kill a black detainee
• ‘I will remove your f****** soul from your f****** body,’ he told the cuffed man
• The suspect had earlier threatened to shoot officers if they kept following him
• Pullease turned his anger toward a colleague who tried to defuse the tension
• He shouted an expletive at her and said, ‘Don’t ever f****** touch me again’ after briefly grabbing her by the throat and pushing her

Newly released footage shows a Florida cop shouting at a detained black man ‘I will remove your f***ing soul’ before he was pulled away by a female officer, whom he later grabbed by the throat in a fit of rage. 

Sgt. Christopher Pullease arrived at the scene in the city of Sunrise on November 19, after other officers had already responded to reports of a man attacking people outside a convenience store.

The suspect, Jean Similien, had threatened to shoot officers and resisted as they guided him to the back of a police cruiser. 

‘Look at me, motherf*****,’ Pullease told the man when he arrived, leaning into the car with his hand on the seat. ‘You wanna play f****** games? You wanna get disrespectful with my f****** officers? I will remove your f****** soul from your f****** body!’

A 27-year-old female officer pulls Pullease away by his belt in an attempt to defuse the situation. That’s when the sergeant, a 21-year veteran of the force, turned around and pushed her against a car by the throat.

He shouts an expletive at her and says, ‘Don’t ever f****** touch me again.’ He later tells her: ‘And I’ll [expletive] see you in about five minutes,’ according to audio obtained by WSVN.

Sunrise, Florida police Sgt. Christopher Pullease is under criminal investigation after he screamed at a detainee and grabbed a female officer by the throat in a fit of rage during an incident in November

The situation began when Pullease approached a detained suspect with pepper spray. ‘Look at me, motherf*****,’ Pullease told him. ‘You wanna play f****** games? You wanna get disrespectful with my f****** officers? I will remove your f****** soul from your f****** body!’

 The detainee had threatened to shoot officers if they didn’t stop following him, according to audio obtained by South Florida station WSVN

A 27-year-old female officer pulled Pullease back by his belt as she tried to defuse the situation

Pullease then grabbed the female officer by the throat. ‘Don’t ever f****** touch me again,’ he told her, before warning her, ‘And I’ll l f****** see you in about five minutes.’

Pullease is suspended with pay as he faces an internal and criminal investigation. 

Sunrise police released silent bodycam footage of the November incident in January. WSVN obtained audio of the incident last week.

The officers were responding to reports that Similien was attacking people outside of a Shop & Save convenience store in Sunrise, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

Bodycam video shows other officers arguing with Similien before he was eventually place in a patrol car.

‘I don’t want to talk,’ he said as he stood between two apartment buildings at around 2pm. ‘It don’t matter, it’s my f****** rights.’

He then makes a threat: ‘Y’all steady following me. If I open fire on one, two or three, I told y’all, do not follow me.’

A female officer asks: ‘So are you threatening us with that?’

He replies: ‘You can take it how you want it to.’

The officer then tells someone via her radio: ‘Subject is threatening to open fire at this time,’ to which a voice replies, ‘The suspect, why is he not detained yet?’ 

Video shows Pullease turn around while backpedaling as he was pulled back from yelling at the detainee, then momentarily putting his hand at the other officer’s throat and pushing her backward until she hits a nearby police car

Footage from Pullease’s bodycam shows the moment he pulls up to the scene with pepper spray in hand and begins yelling at him.

‘Watch out, motherf***** . Hey, hey, look at me, look at me! Look at me! You wanna f****** play f****** games? You play with the wrong motherf*****!’ Pullease said.

‘Do what you gotta do, man. You gonna mace me? Mace me,’ Similien replied. 

That’s when Pullease threatened to ‘remove his soul from his body.’

‘Well, do it,’ Similien said.

At that point, an unidentified female officer with less than three years of experience on the force pulled Sgt. Pullease back.

The 21-year veteran turned around and pushed her against a car, initially grabbing her by the neck before his hand moved to her shoulder.

‘Sir,’ the woman said as her colleague assaulted her.

Pullease walks back to the squad car with the cuffed suspect and shouts, ‘We clear?’

Similien responds, ‘Yes, sir.’ 

‘And I’ll l f****** see you in about five minutes,’ Pullease said, pointing at the female officer.

He briefly returned to his patrol car before returning to the waiting officers.

‘Everybody turn off their f****** cameras,’ he said, according to audio obtained by WSVN.

Pullease is now being investigated criminally. 

Police in Sunrise are ‘working in conjunction with the Broward State Attorney’s Office during this criminal investigation,’ police spokesman Justin Yarborough said back in January.

Meanwhile, the union that represents officers in Sunrise – The FOP Lodge 80 – is demanding that Police Chief Anthony Rosa recuse himself from the investigation and is furious about the interview, claiming Pullease is being stitched-up.   

Police Chief Anthony Rosa (pictured) said that Pullease was ‘inappropriate and unprofessional’ in the situation and added that he ‘unnecessarily elevated the demeanor of the suspect’

Chief Anthony Rosa (right) with Sgt. Christopher Pullease when he was receiving an award in 2019

‘It is apparent that he has prematurely arrived at a conclusion without attaining all the facts,’ the union said in a statement. 

‘I want to emphasize that it is one of my highest responsibilities to ensure safe working conditions for all employees and I will not waiver from that obligation no matter who is involved,’ Rosa responded in a written statement.

He said that Pullease was ‘inappropriate and unprofessional’ in the situation and added that he ‘unnecessarily elevated the demeanor of the suspect.’ 

Pullease has been taken off his supervisory duties since the incident. Internal affairs is investigating, with Rosa calling his behavior ‘disgusting.’     

He has no contact or supervision over subordinate personnel, according to Rosa.

‘I am very proud of the officer involved in this incident and believe that the actions taken were definitive and demonstrative of good leadership during a tense situation,’ Rosa said.

He noted that Sunrise officers are told to ‘de-escalate emotionally charged situations’ and intervene if one of their own appears to lose control or display inappropriate conduct in interacting with the public. 

In an interview with a local TV station in January, Rosa was asked why Pullease hasn’t already been charged in the three months since the incident, with a reporter pointing out that any civilian who put their hands on an officer’s throat would face charges.

‘So there’s some details of the investigation that I’ve not disclosed, that I’m unable to disclose right now, and if any of the information that comes up during the investigation rises to a level of criminal behavior or criminal conduct, then we’ll address it appropriately,’ Rosa responded.

A WSVN investigation into Pullease said that he had been investigated twice for excessive use of force in his two decades on the job, but had been cleared both times.  

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