NEW YORK (UNITED STATES), Jan. 4 (dpa/EP) –
The American sprinter Fred Kerley, double Olympic medalist and 100-meter world champion, was stunned with a taser gun and arrested after a confrontation with the police in Miami Beach (United States), North American media reported late on Friday.
The two-time Olympic medalist, 29, was taken first to the hospital and then to the Miami-Dade County Jail after the incident. According to the police, Kerley had approached an ongoing police investigation and tried to get his car, parked nearby, there.
The bronze medalist in Paris 2024 refused to leave the place and became increasingly aggressive. Several police officers subdued him with a stun gun. The altercation can be seen on video from a police officer’s body camera. Kerley will be released this Saturday.
Kerley’s attorney, Richard L. Cooper, criticized the officers’ overreaction. “I can say that Mr. Kerley is a record-breaking athlete who has honorably and successfully represented our nation at the Olympic Games on numerous occasions. These allegations are false and indicate the brutal police state that Miami Beach has become. “he told CBS.