Man Shot By Miami Police Plans To Sue
MIAMI (CBS4) - A 30-year old Miami man who was injured in a police involved shooting which left his cousin dead plans to sue the city, the Miami Police Department and Police Chief Miguel Exposito.
The Cochran Firm and the Amarantos Legal Team filed their intent to sue Friday on behalf of Kareem Williams who was shot three times during a traffic stop, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald. His cousin, Travis McNeil, died on the scene.
McNeil and Williams were shot at about 11 p.m. Feb. 10th just two blocks away from the Take One Lounge, at 75th Street and Miami Avenue where they had been enjoying an evening out.
Reports say an unmarked police unit pulled them over at the intersection of North Miami Avenue and 75th after McNeil allegedly ran a red light. The officer also noted that before he pulled the vehicle over it was being driven 'erratically'.
According to Armando Aguilar, head of the Miami police union, during the stop Detective Reinaldo Goyo reportedly saw something that "led him to fear for his life" and he fired into the vehicle in self defense. Police said no weapons were found and have not said what led Detective Goyo to shoot.
"It is becoming obvious that further training is necessary and some psychological evaluations are
desperately needed before the Department places officers like Reinaldo Goyo in task-force positions which require much more elaborate tactical command decisions to be made in circumstances where extreme force may be necessary," said Joseph Vredevelt, Esq., with the Cochran Firm, in a statement. "We feel that as it pertains to Mr. Williams' case alone, the Department was at the very least on notice of Officer Goyo's propensity for rash decision making; citing his attempted reality show appearance which was brought to the City and this community's attention by Commissioner Richard Dunn at a recent city council meeting. The video clearly shows nothing but outrageous antics and braggadocio on the part of the officers involved which very likely was the real reason for those shots being fired on February 11, 2011."
Last week, McNeil's mother Sheila McNeil met privately with Exposito.
"It's been very hard," McNeil said. "Very hard because no parent wants to bury their child; A child is supposed to bury me," she said. "That's the most hurtful part of this situation."
Exposito has been scheduling private meetings with all of the families who have lost relatives in the seven Miami police-involved shootings since July. McNeil said she feels had the chief stepped-in earlier things may have turned out differently.
"Because it was six boys who died before him, and maybe his death could have been prevented if he had stepped in and got his team in order," McNeil told CBS4. "That was my young son, my baby. He's gone. But what we can is prevent this from happening to anyone else in this neighborhood, or even this state for that matter."
Police have not commented publicly about the McNeil case, which remains under review by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
