South Beach Memorial Day event ends in controversial death

Is this yet another “police = bad” thread, or do you think that the officers reacted properly? On May 30, Raymond Herisse was shot to death by police in Miami. Reports show that 12 officers opened fire on his vehicle and more than 100 shots were fired. Now this post isn’t to debate whether or not Herisse committed a crime. He tried to escape and struck at least 4 police officers while trying to get away. Not to mention the long criminal record that Miami police made sure to point out to the public. They were definitely justified in trying to apprehend him, but was shooting at him over 100 times the way to do it?

www.local10.com...

"The officers have not been interviewed. We haven't spoken to them, but obviously, looking at the entirety of the incident, there was multiple attempts to hurt police officers, hurt pedestrians, and we're very fortunate that we don't have an officer seriously injured or killed at this point," Noriega said.

Interesting statement considering four bystanders were struck by bullets from the officers that were acting to protect them. At the time of the shooting, the offices were not aware of a gun being present on the suspect or of him shooting back.

www.miamiherald.com...

Police said the incident began after Herisse struck a police officer with his car. Yet to be determined: whether Herisse fired at officers. After several days, police found a handgun in his car.

www.miamiherald.com...

In addition, the behavior of officers following the shooting add doubt to the events and make some question whether there was some wrongdoing on the part of the officers.

www.miamiherald.com...

Benoit’s allegations — coupled with a WPLG-ABC 10 report that an officer temporarily seized one of its video cameras after the fatal shooting of Raymond Herisse — have spurred criticism from photojournalists and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Here is the video:


I honestly don't believe that all police officers are crooked...despite what some may say. Just like this country's general population, some cops are jerks, some are idiots, and some are just trying to do their jobs the best way they know how. Unfortunately, the jerks and idiots are usually the ones making the news. Please weigh in. I would love to hear everyone's opinion on this case.

reply to post by Abrihetx


I agree with that assessment, but there's a thing called "the Thin Blue Line." The problem is some good cops won't go against a bad cop. They consider themselves brothers of the blue uniform. They don't want to rat out the bad apples, because of the possible repercussions by fellow police officers. Have you ever seen another police officer restrain another officer who was exceeding their use of force? After all the bad cop video's I've watched, I've never seen a cop stop another officer, but I have seen them all join in on a beat down.

There's bad in a lot of occupations, but a police officer has the ability to take a life. The majority of occupations don't put lives in danger if you have a bad apple. And usually, there's no secret code to cover each others back.

When a police officer has problems with the public using their cell phones to record and video their actions, than I feel that officer has an unsettling feeling that he is doing wrong. If he's doing his job by the book their should be no anger toward anyone taking a video of an arrest. There shouldn't be a double standard where they can video you, but you can't video them.

reply to post by Abrihetx


I dont think enough facts have been released on this case yet.

What was the justification to open fire? The video does not show the vehicle move just before the officers opened fire. Did the man shift the gear into drive? If not then the justification that the vehicle was being used as a deadly weapon does not fly.

What happened before the video started. Apparently there was some altercation with the police where the vehicle was used as a weapon. A gun was also found in the vehicle. Did the guy fire shots at police in the previous altercation? If so, then a sudden move or the failure to show his hands would have been justification for shooting him.

The incident happened early monday morning. The police announced they found a gun in the car on wednesday. To search the vehicle, it would have to be towed to police headquarters and the investigators would have to write the search warrant and get it signed by a judge. With the crime scene being this large and the incident being this complicated, a one day delay in searching the vehicle is not unheard of.

In video attached to this article you can hear four gun shots immediately before the vehicle stops. Are these police shots or the guy in the video shooting?

I am sure there are many who are willing to place blame on the police though with such little information. And I am sure someone will claim the police planted the weapon.

There simply is not enough information released yet to make an educated opinion on the subject and anyone who says otherwise is being unreasonable.

Regardless of this particular incident, I can say that Memorial Weekend at Miami Beach is a nightmare, and has been for several years. I resided in SoBe for several years and I, and many other South Beach residents got out of dodge of we could. Every year we were exposed to street fights, stabbings, shootings, rapes, murders, dishes rattling off the shelves at 4am (9 stories up!) because of subwoofers the size of volkswagons.

There were always hundreds of arrests, people missing, property damage, vandalism. Police were overwhelmed despite so many called in for off-duty overtime.

I can't understand why they still host it. It's not worth the economy it brings.

I used to live in Miami too, and I know that Memorial Day weekend is when the moolies invade and yes, it turns into a total nightmare.

However, Miami cops are also the most Nazi like in the country, that is, Metro Dade, but closely followed by Miami Beach. (A separate city, which most people don't seem to realize)

I'd like to point out, more people were injured and more severely by the pigs' guns than were by this "maniac injuring pedestrians and police officers" ......how bout that?

reply to post by CaptChaos

Regardless of this particular incident

Can't agree brother. Worked with and have a lot of friends on the dept. at the beach, at Metro and City.

By the way, are we allowed to use "moolies" here?

Va bene!

reply to post by WeRpeons


I totally can understand what you are saying. It would be great if they could make it friendlier environment to those that would report illegal actions by other officers, but I'm sure that will never happen.

As for the Memorial Weekend event, I do get how the issues that they have during this event can cause the police and members of the neighborhood to be on higher alert...or cause them to be more on edge. This may have contributed to the shooting and the officers handling the call. Police are not infallible, but I would just like for them to acknowledge that it was handled improperly if that is what happened. But, I'm sure that will also never happen.

And CaptChaos, I appreciate you comment and opinion, but Mooies? Really?