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North Miami Beach Officer Accused Of Kicking Pregnant Woman Fired

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NORTH MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - The North Miami Beach Police Chief has fired a rookie officer who was arrested for allegedly kicking a pregnant woman in the stomach prompting her to give birth prematurely to her son.

Ambar Pacheco
Ambar Pacheco (Source: Miami-Dade Corrections)

In a statement Friday afternoon, Police Chief William Hernandez said, "Due to Ms. Amber Pacheco's recent off-duty actions, her employment with the City of North Miami Beach has been terminated effective immediately."

Pachecho's personnel file shows that she needed help with her job skills.

CBS4'S Peter D'Oench examined the file of 26-year-old Ambar Pacheco at North Miami Beach police headquarters on Friday. She has been charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, which is a 2nd degree felony.

North Miami Beach police hired Pacheco in September of 2017. The file shows her probationary period was extended for a while in part because she needed to improve coming to work on time, knowledge of police procedures and needed to improve situational awareness and officer safety skills.

The file said she had had three accidents in her cruiser and said two of those accidents could not have been prevented. But she received an employee warning after a third accident with property damage.

One page in her file notes that she is relieved of duty with pay and not allowed to carry a concealed firearm or wear a badge.

That was updated late Friday afternoon with the announcement that she had been fired.

Neither Pacheco nor her family members are commenting. D'Oench stopped at the family home and found a note on the door saying the family was requesting privacy.

In an exclusive interview by telephone on Thursday with the victim, Evoni Murray, Murray said she and her boyfriend Joseph Predelus Jr. were walking on Washington Avenue at Espanola Way just after 8:30 Wednesday night when they encountered Pacheco and her sister Mikaela.

Murray said there was no reason for the attack and says the women were crying when she saw them and that is when things got out of hand.

"They thought that we were talking about them and we weren't. They just got belligerent and they got loud. They tried to jump me because they thought I said something."

She said after she was kicked in the stomach, she was in pain and had contractions and had to be taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital by paramedics where she gave birth to Joseph Predlus III shortly after her arrival. She said the baby is doing well and is healthy.

She denied the officer's claims that Murray's boyfriend kicked the officer's sister in the head.

"Why would he kick a female if she was not doing anything," she said. "He was just trying to restrain the young lady from doing anything to me or his child."

In the police report, Pacheco stated after that, "I saw red and beat the s... out of her." She also said she recalled kicking somebody but she did not know who she kicked.

Murray said, "It kind of troubles me to know that people who are supposed to be protecting and serving are hurting us but I know it's not all of them. One apple doesn't spoil the bunch. It's pretty overwhelming that the incident had to happen. You know we forgive but we do not forget."

"I feel a reprimand is necessary for the officer to show that no matter who you are or whatever occupation you have, fighting and putting your hand on someone else should not be allowed."

Aggravated battery on a pregnant woman as a 2nd degree felony carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, 15 years probation and a $10,000 fine. The minimum term upon conviction is 21 months under the state guidelines unless there are reasons for a downward departure or shorter sentence.

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