<div id="subtitle">Activists are demanding answers from the City of Miami Beach over allegations its police department targets gay men</div><div><p> <p>Activists are demanding answers from the City of Miami Beach over allegations its police department targets gay men.</p> <p>Miami-based gay rights group <a>SAVE Dade</a> is calling on members of the gay community to attend a Tuesday, February 9 meeting at Miami Beach City Hall to “secure a firm commitment from police leadership to ensure that this matter is addressed with all the seriousness it deserves.”</p> <p>Last week, the city took police officers Frankly Forte and Elliot Hazzi off patrol and assigned each to desk duty pending the results of an internal investigation.</p> <p>Officials were responding to an <a>American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU) announcement on Wednesday of its intention to sue the city, Forte and Hazzi over a March 13, 2009 incident</a>.</p> <p>The civil rights group alleges the officers harassed and arrested Harold Strickland, a gay former Miami Beach resident, after he called 911 to report the beating of a gay man at the hands of the police officers as he lay handcuffed on the ground in Flamingo Park.</p> <p>In his 911 call, Strickland says, “And they pushed this guy on the ground, the one cop did, and the other cop came up, as if he was kicking a football and kicked the guy in the head. Just some aggressive behavior going on and I'm not sure it's acceptable, to be honest.”</p> <p>The officers arrested Strickland for loitering and prowling in the park, charges he pleaded no contest to, but which later were dropped.</p> <p>The ACLU alleges the arresting officers yelled anti-gay slurs at Strickland as he was being booked, including multiple instances of calling him a “fucking fag.”</p> </p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68725621&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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