It is
Memorial Day weekend one year later, but four innocent bystanders wounded when
Miami Beach police sprayed a car with gunfire still have no answers.
They
don’t know who shot them, although they presume it was police, since officers
discharged more than 100 bullets on a busy Beach street. They don’t know if
anyone will ever be held accountable. They don’t know if they will ever receive
compensation — or even help with their steep medical bills.
Now, one
of those wounded victims has sued the city of Miami Beach for negligence, while
four others have joined together to file a public-records lawsuit demanding
ballistics results and other key evidence. That second lawsuit, which is
expected to be filed Thursday, accuses the agencies involved of deliberately
withholding the records in an effort to cover up responsibility.
The
plaintiffs, all of whom say they sustained permanent injuries, ultimately want
compensation for their medical bills, pain and suffering.
But with
the investigation into the incident still pending a year later, they are no
closer to learning who shot them or why officers felt compelled to discharge
over 115 bullets in a single confrontation during Urban Beach Week, the annual
hip-hop-fuled gathering that returns to Miami Beach this weekend.
Sarah
Garcia, 25, was shot twice in the chaos last year, which was sparked when a
squadron of police officers, some of them with fully automatic weapons, shot
and killed a suspect they believed was armed and dangerous.
Garcia,
who lives in Naples, had made the three-hour drive with friends, and had
arrived in Miami Beach just a short time before the shooting began about 4 a.m.
on May 30. She and her friends were strolling and taking in the scene.
“I heard
a bunch of gunshots go off and everybody was running and screaming,” she said.
“I got down on the ground and covered my head and then realized I was shot in
my leg and my arm. I think I was in a state of shock.’’
Both
bullets tore through her limbs and doctors had to insert plates and screws into
her arm. Garcia, a patient liaison at Naples Community Hospital, had to use a
wheelchair for three months and has not been able to work since.
“She went
from being someone who helped people for a living to being someone who needed
that help and felt helpless,’’ said Bradley Winston, her attorney.
The other
four plaintiffs, including the family of the suspect who was killed, have yet
to file a negligence suit like Garcia. First, they want access to police
reports that they believe will show their clients were wounded by police, and
not by the suspect, as police theorized.
The Miami
Beach Police Department is investigating the incident, which involved seven
officers from Miami Beach and four from Hialeah. The department has turned
evidence over to the state attorney’s office, which will decide whether the
officers should be criminally prosecuted.
The probe
is still “ongoing” according to Ed Griffith, spokesman for state Attorney
Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
“There’s
nothing more that the city can add at this point,’’ said Donald Papy, a lawyer
for the city of Miami Beach.
L. Elijah
Stiers, who represents a Pompano Beach man who was shot, said his client is
unable to continue physical rehabilitation because he can’t afford to pay for
it. Carlson Saint Louis, 25, was struck by a bullet that exploded in his hip,
destroying the part of his body that controls walking, running and jumping.
“I’d like to know who fired the bullet lodged in his leg, which department fired that bullet, who issued those guns — this is all information they should know by now,’’ Stiers said.
The
family of the man who was killed, Raymond Herisse, contend that evidence will
show that Herisse was a victim of “police overkill.” Marwan Porter, who
represents Herisse’s family, contends that Herisse was unarmed and had stopped
his vehicle before police began shooting at him.
Herisse,
22, had been driving his blue, four-door Hyundai on Collins Avenue and 16th
Street when a Hialeah police officer signaled him to pull over, Miami Beach police
said at the time. Hialeah is among several police departments that help control
the South Beach festival’s massive crowds.
Herisse
allegedly struck the officer with his car and continued south on Collins,
slamming through barricades and striking cars. A video shot from a nearby
apartment and posted on YouTube shows the car heading down Collins amid gunfire
and skidding to a stop after four shots rang out. Officers surrounded the car
with their guns drawn and, about a minute later, fired a fusillade.
Three
days later, Miami Beach police announced they had found a Berretta 92-F
semiautomatic pistol under a seat in Herisse’s car. They said it took them a
while to find it because it was so hidden, and they were dealing with witnesses
and victims in a multi-block area.
Ballistics
tests, which could show whether the gun was fired, have not been released.
“Even if
the police had reasonable cause to use deadly force against the suspect, either
to defend themselves or to defend others, they have to do so in a reasonable
manner and they can’t shoot into a crowd. That’s just reckless,’’ said Winston,
Garcia’s attorney.
Jasmine
Rand, who represents Cedrick Perkins, a Tallahassee man wounded in the melee,
is urging police charged with crowd control for the event this weekend to
consider citizen rights and their safety.
“My
client still has a bullet in his heart. Shooting hundreds of bullets is a
reckless disregard for human life,” she said.