...make that 13!
MIAMI (AP)--Thirteen current and former Miami police officers were named in an
indictment unsealed Friday alleging they helped cover up wrongdoing in police
shootings.
Two have entered pleas to charges in the indictment, and one of the officers
was a former chief's assistant, federal prosecutors said.
Five officers were arrested at the Miami Police Department. They were summoned
to the chief's office early Friday and relieved of their duty, badges and
weapons, the FBI said.
Two other former officers were arrested at their homes, and four others were
expected to surrender, FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.
The arrests expanded on a March indictment charging five Miami officers with
conspiracy to obstruct justice for allegedly lying to investigators after a
73-year-old man was killed in a hail of 123 bullets during a 1996 drug raid.
Shots narrowly missed his 14-year-old granddaughter. Police said the man fired
first. No drugs were found in the house, but some were found outside a window.
The FBI said the investigations also involved gun "throw-down" cases involving
the fatal shootings of two young black men after a purse snatching on a
downtown expressway ramp, a fatal inner-city shooting and the wounding of a
homeless man who officers said was holding a weapon to the head of a friend. It
actually was a small radio. In "throw-down" cases, officers allegedly planted
guns at crime scenes.
Although it involves 13 present and former officers, all members of special
teams or crime-supression units, the scandal is smaller than the "Miami River
Cops" case that grew out of the drownings of three drug-boat guards in the
Miami River in 1985.
Two dozen Miami officers eventually were convicted of charges that police
formed their own drug-ripoff ring, and as many as 100 officers were
disciplined.
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 09-07-01
01:25 PM- - 01 25 PM EDT 09-07-01