ACLU, NAACP ask civilian panel to investigate Miami Police Shootings of eight Black Men Over Past Decade

From [HERE] Pressure to review six Miami police-involved shooting deaths of black men dating back to the last summer intensified this week when the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP asked a civilian panel wielding subpoena power to weigh in on the controversy.

Local NAACP President Victor Curry, following the police-involved shooting death of Travis McNeil last Friday, called on the Florida Attorney General to intervene and asked U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson. D-Miami, to pen a letter to the Justice Department. Curry has also contacted the Rev. Al Sharpton, the well-known civil rights activist, to urge him to visit Miami and lead a community rally. No date has been set for the visit and rally.

Meanwhile, the ACLU presented a letter Tuesday to the city’s Civilian Investigative Panel, listing dates and names of the men killed by police between July 2010 and February 2011, and one killed by a Miami-Dade officer. They said the number of shootings is disproportionate when compared to larger cities like New York. That city, whose population is 20 times larger than Miami, had just eight police-involved shootings in 2010.

“The people in our community deserve to know that every unit of government that has a role with regard to these issues is fulfilling its responsibility to address these urgent matters,” said the letter signed by ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon, Curry, ACLU Attorney John DeLeon, and past ACLU President Brad Brown. The letter goes on to say, “There is now a crisis in the Miami police department and it is resulting in the death of black men.”

The city’s CIP was given almost unprecedented powers a decade ago following a series of questionable police shootings and cover-ups. The public overwhelmingly voted to create the semi-independent authority to look into police misconduct allegations. Its 13-member board is comprised of nine members appointed by city commissioners - three by the mayor, and one by the police chief. At the time, Miami was one of only five cities nationwide in which the civilian panel had subpoena powers.

Over the years the authority has recommended actions ranging from policy changes to changes in findings to the reinterviewing of witnesses for dozens of cases. In recent years, however, the CIP has been plagued by budgetary problems and an inability to seat all 13 members as commissioners haggled over the make-up of the panel.

Currently there are 11 members on the panel which meets at City Hall. The panel does not recommend discipline, and its findings are forwarded to the chief of police, the city manager, and the city’s five commissioners.

Generally, the committee tries to stay out of the way of active investigations.

“We can do simultaneous investigations,’’ said interim director Carol A. Abia. “But it depends on many issues the state attorney may be looking at. We certainly don’t want to jeopardize ongoing criminal investigations.”

Miami police, city administrators, and some members of the city’s commission, have struggled with how to deal with eight shootings in the past 10 months. The mayor and at least one commissioner have called for the dismissal of Police Chief Miguel Exposito. The city manager - who ultimately could decide the chief’s fate, but has promised to study the circumstances before taking action - has brought in a retired FBI chief to review the department

Though the State Attorney’s Office has not completed its investigations of the six shootings - in some cases those investigations could take up to a year - at least two of the deadly shootings involved unarmed men, Travis McNeil and DeCarlos Moore. McNeil died last week in Little Haiti; Moore died in an Overtown shooting in July after allegedly disobeying a police order and returning to his car.

The six others shot and killed by Miami police are Emmanuel Fluker, Ulysses Hathaway Bodie, Joell Lee Johnson, Gibson Junior Belizaire, Brandon Foster, and Tarnorris Tyrell Gaye. All were killed in Overtown, Little Haiti, or Liberty City. The ACLU complaint is asking the panel to look into the January shooting of Johnny Simms, who was shot and killed by Miami-Dade police officer Oscar Plasencia, after Simms gunned down two county police officers.

Miami Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II, who has been battling Exposito in a push to finish the shooting investigations, welcomed the ACLU move Wednesday, saying he was a member of the committee for two years after its inception.

“I’m going to do everything I can to help them,” said Dunn. “I believe in the mission of it.”

CIP Attorney Charles Mays said Wednesday he found the ACLU complaint “well founded,’’ and said he plans to send a letter to the state attorney to make sure they don’t step on each other’s feet if there are simultaneous investigations. “It’s a very important matter, and we’re treating it that way,” said Mays.

Exposito, a 36-year vet still in a fight to retain his job, has refused comment on the specifics of any of the shootings.