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Caught On Camera: Woman With Toy Gun In Confrontation With Officer

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Miami-Dade Police took a woman with a toy gun into custody Friday following a confrontation with an officer and the entire incident was caught on camera by a veteran CBS4 photographer.

That photographer, Manny Alvarez, told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that he helped Officer Yolanda Everett communicate with the 44-year-old suspect, Indira Maricela Pedemonte Illhimany of Miami, outside the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building.

Toy Gun Woman
Woman with a toy gun was taken into custody following a confrontation with a Miami-Dade police officer outside the Miami-Dade courthouse building. The officer pulled her Taser but the woman was not struck. (CBS4)

Alvarez's actions could have prevented some dire consequences or even a fatal encounter if the situation had escalated.

During the standoff between Everett and the suspect, the officer asked Alvarez to translate because the suspect was only speaking Spanish.

"She asked me to translate and tell her to put her hands up in the air," said Alvarez. "I was just helping the officer. I know her because she works at the courthouse and so I did what I could to help her."

Alvarez said he noticed the woman acting odd.

"We thought this was suspicious because as I was exiting the courthouse, I saw a woman crouching behind a police car and she had a toy gun in her hand," said Alvarez. "It was a dangerous situation because at one point we didn't know whether it was a toy gun or a real gun. We just saw her crouching and then going from one end to the other and police had to get control of this station."

The veteran photographer kept his distance.

"I definitely thought this was a dangerous situation, I tried to stay back," said Alvarez. "She kept moving behind the police car and this officer drove up and she noticed and called her aside. And that's when she pointed the gun at the officer," said Alvarez.

That's when the officer asked Alvarez for his help.

As Alvarez was using his iPhone, you can hear him yelling out instructions to the suspect in Spanish after hearing what the officer was saying.

Police say the officer initially noticed a gun handle protruding from the suspect's waistband.

A police report says the suspect was actually brandishing the weapon and the officer gave a number of instructions to her to get on the ground.

At first, the woman ignored the officer and continued to slowly walk toward her.

Eventually, she dropped the toy gun and her keys, which were also in her hand, and was wrestled to the ground by other officers.

The officer's Taser did fire but the woman was not struck.

"Other officers came as backup and they were able to subdue her," said Alvarez. "They did a great job."

Alvarez was humble about helping out and said Miami-Dade Police thanked him.

Hot dog vendor Ahmed Fernandez saw the situation unfold and even says the suspect pointed her fake gun at him.

"I saw this woman walking around a police car with something in her hand pointed at the car," he said. "She just kept walking around and she even pointed it at me. I couldn't make out what it was. This was crazy to do this in this heat. To be doing that in the first place outside the courthouse is just crazy."

Another witness, Louise James, said she was at the courthouse on business when she noticed the events unfold.

"I didn't know if the gun was real or not," she said. "Then all of a sudden I heard screaming from the officer and the suspect screaming back. I was afraid. I didn't know what to do because this was scary. I didn't know if it was a real gun or not."

The suspect was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm on a law enforcement officer and is being held on $7,500 bond. She could appear in bond court this weekend.

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