Man injured in Miami police-involved shooting ‘critical’ amid internal probe, as spotlight shines on mental health – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
MIAMI (WSVN) – Investigators are searching for answers as they attempt to determine what led up to a police-involved shooting in a Miami neighborhood.
The man remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Friday with his family by his side.
Speaking on the family’s behalf, their pastor, the Rev. Dr. Gaston E. Smith, identified the man as Donald Armstrong.
“He is currently in trauma in critical condition. We’re praying that he survives,” he said. “At this point, he is struggling for his life.”
On Friday, City of Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales released a strongly worded statement regarding mental health and his officers’ actions.
He said in part:
We are already in the process of our internal investigation regarding all actions taken. The officers involved are on leave during the investigation.”
The chief added:
I pledge to ensure that our department does better in addressing calls involving mental and behavioral issues.
This all started when Miami Police officers responded to a report of a disturbance along Northwest 58th Street, near Seventh Court, just after 2 p.m., Thursday.
A witness who recorded video of the incident said he noticed police cruisers in the neighborhood.
“I see this line of police cars. The instinct is to pull out my phone, just to see what happens,” he said.
Investigators said Armstrong refused to surrender.
The cellphone video captured the man appearing to wield a blade as he stood on the front porch and shouted at several responding officers, refusing to drop the weapon.
“Shoot! Shoot in the heart!” the man is heard saying in the video.
“They shoot a Taser,” said the witness.
But Armstrong remained standing, and the officers shock him with a Taser a second time, caused his to lose his balance.
“This individual failed to communicate with any of our verbal commands. Our officers did make the determination to deploy the Taser, with no effect whatsoever,” said Miami Police Capt. Freddie Cruz.
Armstrong appeared to stumble toward the officers, and as he fell to the ground, at least one officer opened fire, striking him multiple times.
“Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” a woman is heard saying in cellphone video showing the man lying on the ground.
Paramedics rushed Arsmtrong to Ryder Trauma Center, and an investigation continues.
“I do know that he was dealing with some emotional, perhaps mental concerns, that his mother was concerned about,” said Smith. “She reached out for help. She did not reach out for a son to be shot multiple times.”
Dr. Daniel Bober, Chief of Psychiatry at Memorial Regional Hospital said he sees cases like this one happening all over the country.
“It should be noted that a mentally ill person is 16 more times more likely to be killed in a police encounter,” he said.
Bober said some departments have implemented mental health professionals to help in cases like these.
“This is definitely a call to action to get more training. I mean, more training is always a good thing,” he said. “Maybe there might be even a way to embed mental health professionals with the police when they go out to these calls, and maybe let the mental health professionals take the first effort to try to see if they can resolve to deescalate the situation, and then, if that doesn’t work, then bring in the police, sort of the heavy hand, if you will.”
Now Amstrong’s family wants answers as to why this happened.
“The chief has reached out to the family, has extended prayers and concern for the family, has promised they are going to get to the bottom of this,” said Smith. “We want to make sure this is not swept under the rug, that we do the right thing for this family, that we do the right thing by Donald, and everything gets resolved.”
Smith said Armstrong’s mother is also in the emergency room due to stress-related issues.
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