Opinion ID: 77401
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: I-395 Shootings

Text: 7 On November 7, 1995, Appellants Aguero, Beguiristain, Gonzalez, and Garcia were engaged in plainclothes activity in downtown Miami. They were accompanied by non-party Officers Sampson, Mervolion, and Hames. Additional officers arrived at the scene later, as described below. 8 (1) Officers Kill Two Suspects 9 The officers noticed a car occupied by four black men and suspected the men were involved in a recent smash and grab robbery. Seeing the car on the on-ramp near I-395, Appellant Beguiristain rammed into it with his patrol car. This disabled the suspects' car and forced the car onto I-395. 10 Two of the suspects, Derrick Wiltshire (Wiltshire) and Antonio Young (Young), exited the car and began to flee. The two climbed over the highway guardrail, dangled themselves down from the rail, and dropped onto Miami Avenue, where they began to run from the scene. 11 As Young and Wiltshire fled, Appellants Aguero and Gonzalez and non-party Officers Mervolion and Hames shot them repeatedly. 2 Young died on Miami Avenue of multiple gunshot wounds in the back. Though Wiltshire had been shot, he fled to a nearby alley, chased by Officers Davis and Bell, two additional police officers who arrived at the scene quickly after hearing of the car crash and chase. Wiltshire died in the alley from multiple gunshot wounds after a brief struggle with Officer Bell. 12 At trial, Officers Mervolion and Hames (who both pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and testified for the government) testified that neither Young nor Wiltshire was armed and that the suspects never fired upon the officers. Non-party Officers Davis, Bell, and Sampson also testified that neither Young nor Wiltshire had a gun and that they did not see a gun near either victim's body immediately after the shootings. At least two civilian witnesses observed that neither Young nor Wiltshire appeared to be armed. No guns were found in the victims' car. 13 (2) Officers Plant Guns 14 Additional officers arrived at the scene after the shootings, including Appellants Beguiristain and Quintero. Despite the fact that neither Young nor Wiltshire had been armed, Beguiristain and Quintero each informed their superiors that they had found a gun near the suspects. Appellant Beguiristain handed over a gun he claimed to have found next to Young's body. 3 Appellant Quintero produced a gun that he claimed to have found in the alley where Wiltshire died. 4 15 Evidence at trial, in particular the testimony of Officers Mervolion and Hames, revealed that the two guns found near the bodies of Young and Wiltshire were in fact planted by the officers in order to justify the shootings of Young and Wiltshire. Officer Hames testified that immediately after the shooting, Appellant Beguiristain informed him that Appellant Quintero was on his way with a gun. Officer Mervolion testified that either Appellant Aguero or Appellant Garcia had said that he was going to the station, and that Mervolion had understood the speaker to mean that he intended to obtain a weapon to plant at the scene. 16 (3) Officers Make False Statements 17 As a matter of department policy, the homicide unit of the Miami Police Department investigates all deaths involving police officers and all shootings by police officers, whether or not the shooting victim dies. Similarly, the Miami Police Department's internal affairs unit (rather than its homicide unit) investigates every situation where a Miami police officer discharges his weapon but the shot does not strike anyone. Appellants, as Miami police officers, knew that the I-395 shootings would be investigated. 18 According to Officers Mervolion and Hames, the day after the shootings, Appellant Aguero organized a lunch meeting so that the officers could get on the same page before giving statements to investigators. Along with Officers Mervolion and Hames, Appellants Aguero, Beguiristain, Garcia, and Gonzalez attended this meeting. Officer Hames testified at trial that at the meeting, Hames proposed to the officers that they all state that Young and Wiltshire were holding guns in their right hands when they jumped from the expressway and fled from arrest. 19 The Miami Police Department's homicide unit did in fact open an investigation on the day of the I-395 shootings. On November 8, 1995, the day after the shootings, Appellants Beguiristain and Quintero each gave a sworn statement to Miami Police Department investigators. In his sworn statement, Appellant Beguiristain stated that when he approached Young after Young had been shot, Beguiristain found him in pain and moving around. Beguiristain swore that he found a nine millimeter pistol lying next to Young, and that Beguiristain picked it up [b]ecause the guy was still moving. In his sworn statement, Appellant Quintero stated that after arriving at the scene of the I-395 shootings, he entered the alley where Wiltshire had scuffled with Officer Bell and found a gun under a nearby bush. 20 Appellants Aguero, Garcia, and Gonzalez gave sworn statements to Miami Police Department investigators on November 14, 1995. In their sworn statements, Appellants Aguero and Garcia asserted that the I-395 suspects killed by the officers were armed with guns in their right hands and that the officers did not fire upon the suspects until the suspects aimed their guns at the officers. In his sworn statement, Appellant Gonzalez stated that he saw one of the fleeing suspects holding a gun in his right hand. 5 21 As is standard practice in the Miami Police Department, the homicide unit's report on the I-395 shootings was forwarded to the Florida State Attorney's Office. The State Attorney's Office initiated a judicial inquest into the deaths of Young and Wiltshire. 6 During the course of that investigation, some of the officers involved in the I-395 shootings gave sworn depositions in Florida state court. 22 On April 2, 1996, Appellants Beguiristain and Quintero gave sworn testimony in the state judicial proceeding. In his sworn testimony, Appellant Beguiristain testified that after Young had been shot on November 7, 1995, Beguiristain found a nine millimeter pistol lying next to Young, and that Beguiristain picked it up because [Young] was still moving around and I didn't want him to grab the gun. In his sworn testimony, Appellant Quintero averred that he found a blue steel Browning pistol in the alley where Officer Bell had struggled with Wiltshire. 23 In 1998, the State of Florida charged Jerry Miller, one of the I-395 suspects who was not shot by the officers, with armed battery and aggravated assault of a police officer. On October 30, 1998, Appellant Garcia gave a sworn deposition in Miller's criminal case in Florida state court. In his sworn testimony, Appellant Garcia reiterated that Young and Wiltshire had guns. 24 In 2000, Wiltshire's estate initiated a civil suit in federal district court in the Southern District of Florida, charging the City of Miami and the individual officers with wrongful death. In that lawsuit, Appellant Gonzalez gave a sworn deposition on August 10, 2000. In his deposition, Appellant Gonzalez testified that he saw what he believed to be a handgun in one of the fleeing suspects' right hand.