Witnesses said they were forced to hide video after shooting

Found on The Miami Herald on Saturday, 04 June 2011
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On Thursday, The Miami Herald spoke to the couple that saw the end of the 4 a.m. police chase on Collins Avenue, then watched and filmed from just a few feet away as a dozen officers fired their guns repeatedly into Raymond Herisse's blue Hyundai.

Shortly after the gunfire ends, an officer points at Benoit and police can be heard yelling for him to turn off the camera.

He raises his camera and an officer is seen appearing on the driver's side with his gun drawn, pointed at them.

"They put guns to our heads and threw us on the ground," Davis said.

Benoit said a Miami Beach officer grabbed his cell phone, said "You want to be [expletive] Paparazzi?" and stomped on his phone before placing him in handcuffs and shoving the crunched phone in Benoit's back pocket.

Benoit said the officers eventually uncuffed him after gunshots rang out elsewhere and he discreetly removed the SIM card and placed it in his mouth.

It's embarrassing for a nation like the US that police officers go that far. Now I agree that there is a lot of adrenaline involved, especially after a bunch of cops emptied their magazines into a suspect, but that is no excuse for lashing out at bystanders. Cases like this only create the image of a fascist police state where officers are considered a violent threat by the citizens. Acting at least a little civilized isn't an impossible request. We're not in the wild west anymore.