Judge Admonishes Miami Beach Attorneys In Memorial Day Shooting Probe
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) - A Miami-Dade County judge imposed penalties on Miami Beach Tuesday after the city repeatedly failed to turn over key evidence related to the deadly 2011 Memorial Day police involved shooting, in violation of a court order.
It was the third time the issue was in front of Judge Victoria Sigler in the two year probe and she was visibly annoyed that city lawyers had not yet turned over all of the photos, police radio transmissions and other evidence requested by plaintiffs who filed civil suits.
Judge Sigler told city attorneys that they had insulted the court and ordered that Miami Beach pay the plaintiffs' attorney fees.
The plaintiffs claim the city of Miami Beach is stonewalling and believe some of the basic evidence, such as police radio taped, has been destroyed.
"I am concerned that they are deliberately not giving us anything," said Marwan Porter, attorney for the plaintiffs said last week. "I am concerned there is something to hide and they don't want us to discover what that is."
The early morning shooting on May 30th killed Raymond Herisse and injured four bystanders.
Police claim Herisse was driving erratically the wrong way down Collins Avenue. At one point he almost hit a Hialeah police officer on a bicycle who was helping with crowd control. Police said they thought the driver may have been armed.
As Herisse rolled to a stop near near 14th St. and Collins Avenue, police opened fire on the car. The barrage of bullets was captured on camera and posted on YouTube. Records show police fired 116 rounds, Herisse died on the scene.
Police found the gun hidden in Herisse's blue, bullet-ridden Hyundai three days later.
A Miami-Dade Police's forensics lab report found that Herisse did not test positive for gunpowder residue which means he did not fire the weapon.
