Update: Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina said the department will be investigating the detainment of a University of Miami doctor, who helps test the homeless for the novel coronavirus, outside his home on Friday.

A doctor who has been testing the homeless in downtown Miami for COVID-19, the deadly infection associated with the coronavirus, said he was handcuffed by police outside his Miami home Friday morning — for no reason that he can discern — while he was placing old boxes on the curbside for pickup.

Dr. Armen Henderson, who was highlighted in a Miami Herald story two weeks ago for his work with the homeless during the pandemic, said the officer released him from the handcuffs and went on his way after the doctor screamed for his wife, who came outside with identification.

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Henderson, who works for the University of Miami Health System, said the officer told him he was patrolling the area after receiving complaints of people dumping trash. He told the cop he was just unloading his van, he said. He was handcuffed when he didn’t show him identification and turned back toward his van, Henderson said.

“He said ‘you should refer to me as sir, or sergeant when talking to me.’ I never said I was a doctor. But I didn’t cuss. He just grabbed my arms and cuffed me,” Henderson said.

The doctor said he was wearing a mask during the confrontation and the officer was not.

It wasn’t immediately clear if any paperwork was available from Friday’s interaction between Henderson and police. Miami police, informed of the doctor’s claims, said Henderson had not called the department to complain but that they were sending an investigator to the house to look into what happened.

Henderson was one of the main characters in a story written by Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas on March 28 that explained how the doctor and dozens of volunteers from three nonprofits had taken to Miami’s streets with nasal swabs to test the homeless for COVID-19. The group also handed out camping tents to those in need.

At the time, Henderson called it an act of “civil disobedience,” because the volunteers were actually defying an order from Miami-Dade County’s mayor to stay off the streets.

By Friday afternoon, the deadly virus that has swept the globe had infected almost 1.7 million people worldwide and killed more than 100,000. In Florida alone, almost 18,000 had tested positive for the virus and 390 people had died.

Henderson, who said he lives in the western suburbs of Miami in the Flagami neighborhood, said he has video cameras at his home that in all likelihood caught the exchange between himself and the police officer. After the incident he headed back to Overtown, so he hasn’t had time to look at it.

The doctor also said he had no intention of calling police.

“I just got accosted by police,” he said. “Why would I call them?”

Miami Herald Staff Writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.