Exclusive: Widow Of Cab Driver Killed In Police Involved Shooting Wants Answers
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -The pregnant widow of a 31-year-old cab driver who was shot and killed by a Miami-Dade Police officer says she wants to know why her husband's life was taken.
Police say 31-year-old Junior Prosper was shot after he bit the officer and nearly severed his finger.
In an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench, Prosper's widow, who only wanted to give her first name of Edeline, said "He's a good man. He cared about everybody. He was so nice. The officer shouldn't have killed him."
"He loved kids. He was a wonderful man," Edeline said "He was working. He had an accident. Y'all could not have helped him instead of shooting him. I want to know what really happened. Even if he bit him, they shouldn't have killed him. They should have just arrested him."
Pablo Lima with the Miami-Dade P.B.A. said the officer was upset that he had to take a life.
Lima told D'Oench, "He's distraught. We are human beings. We don't like to take action like that. But it was warranted. He had to act that way. The officer was doing his job. He was fighting for his life and he acted properly. He's in great pain. His finger was nearly severed."
"This job is extremely dangerous," he said. "Officers are always being second guessed. Officers used what force is necessary. They don't dictate the force. The subjects dictate the force."
The incident happened around 5 a.m. near the I-95 south ramp from NW 119 Street.
A Road Ranger told CBS4's Gaby Fleischman that a cab driver ran a curb and hit a traffic pole at the entrancee to the ramp and then took off running southbound on I-95. A police offier arrived, chased the man and got into an altercation with him. The officer's Taser was deployed, but police haven't said who pulled the trigger.
"We are not sure, it is part of the investigation if that Taser was deployed by the offender getting his Taser or if the officer attempted to deploy his Taser and it just did not work," said Detective Daniel Ferrin.
At some point the cab driver bit the officer on his left hand nearly severing a finger.
"This individual started biting the officer to the point where the officer then had to discharge his firearm," said Ferrin.
The injured officer, a nine year veteran of the department, was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital where his hand required stitches to close the wound.
