In a press release issued this morning by civil rights attorney Justin Moore, it has been announced that Dyma Loving, 26, a Miami Resident who was brutalized by Miami-Dade police back in March, is formally bringing a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County, the specific officers involved Alejandro Giraldo and J.F. Calderon, and the entire Miami-Dade police department.
The lawsuit comes after Loving and her friend Adrianna Green were verbally assaulted and threatened by Frank Tumm with a gun back on March 5th and were subsequently abused and manhandled by Miami Dade police officers even though they were the ones requesting assistance. A video of the incident subsequently went viral the next week, putting pressure on the Miami-Dade Police Department and prompting them to launch an internal investigation while relieving Giraldo of his duties. Loving also previously spoke with ESSENCE about the effects the incident has had on her, including making it difficult to return to work and care for her children.
On behalf of Loving, Moore details the incident in the release before going on to state his office’s full “intention to partake in a thorough, complete and aggressive prosecution of these claims”:
Dyma’s lawsuit against these parties, both collectively and individually, addresses the complete and total breakdown of the officers’ inability to serve and protect her properly. At the moment, her claims include false arrest and false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligent hiring and retention, negligent failure to train and supervise, deprivation of civil rights by excessive use of force, battery, conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, amongst a host of other claims that could very well present themselves over the course of litigation. It is my office’s intention to partake in a thorough, complete and aggressive prosecution of these claims. As it currently stands, both officers who were clearly shown in body cam and the cell phone video footage to have physically attacked Dyma are in still employed by the Miami-Dade Police Department and have not faced criminal liability for their actions. It is important to note that while pursuing prosecution of Dyma’s civil claims against these state agencies and the officers who aggrieved her is important, this will not take the place of criminal prosecution by the State Attorney’s Office.
Moore will be working in tandem with attorneys Christina Roye and Kyara L. Herard of Acosta & Lichter P.A in the civil suit and will continue to urge the State Attorney’s Office to pursue criminal prosecution of the officers involved as well as aggressor Frank Tumm, with hopes that the former are relieved of their positions within the Miami-Dade police department for the foreseeable future.