Newly released video shows a former Miami-Dade corrections officer brutally assaulting a handcuffed inmate inside an elevator.
Video released on March 16 shows Officer Myth Louis-Jeune, who was charged in January with misdemeanor battery, repeatedly striking inmate Spencer Butler while he was handcuffed inside an elevator at the Miami-Dade County Pre-Trial Detention Center on March 1, 2023, NBC Miami reported. Following the footage’s release, questions have emerged about why the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office did not bring charges against Louis-Jeune until Jan. 30, 2026, despite the incident occurring nearly three years earlier.
“I got my a** beat,” Butler is heard yelling to an officer a day after the incident.
The video then shows Butler being placed in a window-lined room, where an officer is seen pointing a weapon through the glass. Several officers can be heard coughing before one shouts that there is “no ventilation.”
“Turn on the exhaust fan,” another officer yells.
Moments later, Butler is surrounded by multiple officers and taken to a shower for “decontamination.” One officer is heard informing him that he had been pepper-sprayed, though it remains unclear what prompted officers to deploy the spray.
“I didn’t have to get sprayed,” Butler yelled.
In another video, an officer asks Butler to write a statement detailing “what transpired in the elevator with Officer Louis-Jeune,” as Butler is heard asking how to spell words like “aggressive” and “excessive.”
Larry Handfield, an attorney for Louis-Jeune, said his client acted in self-defense and was “just doing his job,” describing Butler as an uncooperative and violent inmate who attacked the officer. Louis-Jeune has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Prosecutors said the delay in filing charges came at the request of Louis-Jeune’s former defense attorney, who sought time to investigate, present mitigating evidence, and potentially introduce expert testimony.
However, a labor management report indicates the officer had previously been suspended following a November 2021 use-of-force incident.
RELATED CONTENT: Paralyzed Maryland Man Pulled From Car by Police Reflects On Law Enforcement’s Unfamiliarity with the Disabled