In an unusual move, Miami police on Wednesday announced it has fired an officer for the questionable shooting of an unarmed motorist.
In a brief statement, the department said Officer Reynaldo Goyos,who has been on the force for seven-years, “has been terminated because his discharge of firearm on February 10, 2011 was found to be unjustified by the Department. “
Killed in the police shooting was Travis McNeil, 28, who was in a car and was unarmed.
The firing is a surprise because in June, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office cleared Goyos of any criminal act in the fatal shooting of McNeil. They said the shooting was legally justified because McNeil, reached down into his car during the traffic stop at 11 p.m. and Goyos believed he was reaching for a weapon.
In the press release, the department said: “This termination is based strictly upon a violation of Miami police’s “Deadly Force Policy,”
McNeil and his 30-year-old cousin Kareem Williams, who was also shot, had been pulled over by an unmarked police unit after they left the “Take One Lounge.” According to family, McNeill died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Kareem was wounded by the officer in the arm, back and abdomen.
But no weapon was found in McNeil’s car, only the cell phone that had fallen from his lap, the state attorney’s office said in its report.
Prosecutors found that a manslaughter prosecution wasn’t likely to succeed because the state couldn’t disprove that Goyos wasn’t in fear for his life at the time of the shooting.
The shooting angered many activists and was the last of seven deadly police shootings of black men in Miami’s inner city in just seven months.
All of the shootings happened under the watch of former police chief Miguel Exposito and all but two of the men were armed, according to the Herald.
The department said the case is now closed.
Miami police officer fired for shooting of unarmed man in Little Haiti
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Miami police officer fired for shooting of unarmed man in Little Haiti
