MIAMI — The death of his sister makes no sense to Alfonso Wright. All he knows approximately it’s far from a cellphone video he’s seen. And the video shows a Florida Highway Patrol officer firing into his sister’s white BMW from the passenger aspect as the automobile movements slowly on a roadway near the doorway to the Golden Glades Park & Ride. The officer, diagnosed via FHP as Ronald Melendez-Bonilla, seems to fireplace two times. Then, in the video, a muzzle flashes as soon as before he stumbles as he’s strolling backward, and Latasha Walton is refusing to stop the auto. And it seems to glow once more simply before the trooper falls to the floor after tripping over an average and a dip in the roadway.
The bullets were deadly blows and ended the existence of Walton, 32, a mother of two. Beside her, inside the car, while she was killed Tuesday night, become her boyfriend of three years, Wright stated. He stated he spoke together with his sister’s boyfriend in advance Wednesday and that he’s traumatized. “I’m looking to stay robust for my nephew and my daughter. I noticed it, but I don’t apprehend it, guy,” stated Wright, who stated his sister lived in Pompano Beach and turned into traveling pals for dinner in the Miami vicinity with her boyfriend while she turned into the shot. “She didn’t try and hit him. So what’s the capturing at? I don’t understand why he fired the weapon. I want to speak with Colin Kaepernick or a person.”
Kaepernick is the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, who has grown to be outspoken on civil rights issues, especially regarding regulation enforcement’s treatment of black men. However, Walton’s version of activities differs from FHP’s. FHP Spokesman Alejandro Camacho said Melendez-Bonilla confirmed up close to the Park & Ride at 7:30 p.M. to assist another trooper with a vehicle that changed into “driving erratically.” Camacho said the trooper parked his vehicle in the front of Walton’s to dam it, got out, and drew his firearm. When Walton drove in the trooper’s direction, Camacho said, he “fired more than one photograph” into her vehicle.
It turned into no longer clear from the video if Walton’s automobile struck Melendez-Bonilla. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will decide if there has been any criminal wrongdoing on the officer’s part within the taking pictures. The cellular phone video, taken via a bystander and obtained by law enforcement, turned into released early Wednesday morning. The engaging pictures occurred near the doorway to the Park & Ride at Northwest Seventh Avenue and one hundred and Sixtieth Street. A regulation enforcement supply familiar with the shooting stated Walton hit two FHP automobiles earlier than she became shot via the trooper. That can’t be visible in the video.
Camacho said Walton had been stopped for a traffic violation, but FHP had no longer offered what type of a breach occurred by using past due Wednesday. Bill Smith, president of the Florida Chapter of the FHP, said though two officials appear in the video, the most effective one fired a weapon. “Something became occurring with that driver that wasn’t legal. That’s why she wouldn’t forestall,” stated Smith. The trooper “felt his life changed into in threat from the car.” FHP coverage states that a trooper isn’t always acceptable to use deadly force on a fleeing felon, including into a transferring vehicle, unless there’s “an approaching chance” to the trooper or any other person. It’s clear from the video that the trooper who fell turned into the only one who fired. Smith said best one trooper fired a weapon. The video also indicates at the least soldiers’ black patrol vehicles parked at the scene.