How many people have Miami Police fatally shot since last July?
Not one, or even two or three, but a shocking seven.
Two of the victims were reportedly unarmed. All were African American, and all of the officers involved in the shootings are Hispanic.
To say that these details have raised eyebrows would be an understatement. The NAACP, the ACLU, People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, Miami Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II, among many others, joined Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson in the charge to prompt the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the series of shootings. Change.org echoed the call for action last week by publishing an article and launching a petition that’s garnered more than 200 supporters calling on US Attorney Gen. Eric Holder to initiate a federal investigation into the Miami Police killings.
Only days after the petition’s launch, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich sent a letter to Rep. Wilson informing her that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will “carefully review the information you have provided to determine what, if any, action is appropriate pursuant to their statutory authority.”
Although it won’t bring the victims back, the investigation’s results may lead to victims’ family members obtaining justice and to the Miami community no longer having to question if the authorities are, in fact, guilty of misconduct.
But the investigation is just a start. There’s also community outcry for Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito to step down in light of the shootings. Under Exposito’s watch, the same police officer killed two people in nine days last August. Typically an officer is placed on desk duty after a killing until the department investigates the incident to rule out misconduct. And that’s not Exposito’s only alleged misstep. The Miami Herald reports that Exposito has refused to hand over records concerning the shooting of the first victim - DeCarlos Moore - to a police oversight board. According to the Herald, Miami Police shot Moore, who was unarmed, because he returned to his car without permission. What’s more is that witnesses to some of the shootings say the police department rebuffed them when they offered to provide their account of events.
Commissioner Dunn, who represents the district where the series of shootings took place, is among the many community members asking for Exposito to step down. He told the New York Times that keeping Exposito as chief “makes Miami look like a banana republic.”
“It’s not personal,” Dunn explained. “He’s just not competent to be a chief, that’s all.”
The Justice Department’s investigation may very well prove if Dunn is right.
https://news.change.org/stories/victory-justice-department-to-investigate-miami-police-for-killings
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