Bullet-free: How a new deadly force policy may have affected cop-dragging case
Four years ago when a driver sideswiped a Miami Beach cop on a bicycle on a busy holiday weekend, the driver was shot and killed, four innocent bystanders were wounded and the city was placed under a national microscope for its heavy-handed response.
Saturday night, during another busy holiday weekend in South Beach, a man driving a Mercedes-Benz disobeyed a bicycle cop’s order and raced away, dragging him several hundred feet. This time, though, police didn’t fire their weapons, the officer was the only person injured and the suspect was quickly apprehended and charged with attempted murder.
The difference may very well have been a policy put in place last year by Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates, which no longer permits cops to fire at moving vehicles unless someone inside fires first or displays a weapon.
ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon, often a critic of harsh police tactics, said policy change can lead to saved lives.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article17555555.html