Canadian sisters who (falsely) claimed cops roughed them up last year, appear in court today

Canadians Angelina (left) and Michele Mastrangelo allege they were roughed
up after they were arrested by Miami Beach Police just before Christmas last year.
However, when asked to back up their allegations with
a sworn statement, the pair refused. (Toronto Star)

In a post on the Miami New Times blog Riptide last month, staff writer Frank Alvarado cut right to the chase in his story about two Canadian sisters who claimed they were "roughed up" by two Miami Beach Police officers a few days before Christmas 2012.

During the darkest months of winter, half of Canada flees to South Florida. So you'd think police would have some respect for the maple-syrup-guzzling visitors who fuel the local economy through spring break.

That's not what one pair of sisters from Toronto found in Miami Beach last month. The women say two Beach cops assaulted them while hurling insults such as "bitches," "sluts," and "dirty Canadians."

Not very neighborly, eh?

Miami Beach Police officers Eduard Alba and William Beeker allegedly gave Canadian tourists Angelina and Michele Mastrangelo a nightmare before Christmas they will never forget.

Alvarado wrote that cops arrested the sisters on Dec. 23rd "for allegedly acting belligerent and refusing their commands to leave the Ritz-Carlton at 17th Street and Lincoln Road."

Angelina was charged with resisting arrest without violence and sister Michele was charged with disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest without violence and criminal mischief.

The pair made bond after spending about 11 hours in jail and then returned to Canada.

Once back in Canada, they reached out to Alvarado by email.

In his Jan. 7 story, Alvarado listed some of the sisters' allegations against the cops:

"Those officers are disgusting. They completely ruined our trip."

Angelina claimed one cop told her to "sit the f*ck down bitch."

Michele told Alvarado that one cop "Grabbed my sister by one arm and yanked her up...He dragged her to his cop car, threw her against the car and told her, 'you are in my playground now bitch.'"

Michele told Alvarado, "Alba called her sister 'Miss Piggy' and 'fat bitch' when she told him her weight. Alba also called us sluts, cunts, and dirty Canadians. He told the other male cops not to talk to us because they would get HIV."

According to Alvarado, the sisters "filed a complaint at the police station against Alba and Beeker."

But according to Miami Beach Police spokesperson Bobby Hernandez, "When it came time for [Angelina and Michele] to give a formal, sworn statement, they refused."

Sharon Carpenter, the sisters' mother told New Times,

My daughter Michele has been waking up every night crying her eyes out. Angelina cries every time she talks about it, which is why she has Michele tell most of the story. This has traumatized them forever. I'm never ever in my life going back to Miami.

So, how traumatized were the sisters by their experience at the hands of the cops?

Here they are at the Miami Beach police station on the night of their arrest...dancing in the booking area. (starts @ 0:20 on the video)




In the video below, one of the sisters "urinates on a chair and then begins to contaminate the rest of our holding facility by wiggling on the other chairs and the floor," according to a police spokesperson.




The pair were back in a Miami Beach courtroom today to answer to the charges.

According to court records, they opted to enter a pre-trial diversion program in exchange for having the charges against them dropped. The Toronto Star reports that the sisters also agreed to perform 25 hours each of community service.