MIAMI — Raynier Miranda had committed no crime. He was no threat. And he was in the hallway of his building when he was shot by a cop — who had no idea she’d shot him.
Now the South Miami-Dade maintenance worker is recovering at home after surgery and Miami-Dade Police Sgt. Wanda Roman has been suspended.
Last week, the South Miami-Dade maintenance worker was cleaning the hallway at the West Kendall apartment complex where he also lives. At the same time, Roman was inside her apartment cleaning her revolver. The gun went off.
The bullet went through the front door and struck the unsuspecting cleaning man. It wasn’t until he reached the hospital that Miranda learned he’d been shot — the bullet piercing the aortic artery in his left arm and passing through his chest half an inch from his heart.
“I had no idea what happened. I didn’t see anybody around. I had no idea,” Miranda said Thursday, speaking in Spanish. “I was bleeding. I saw a lady coming and I started yelling for help.”
Miami-Dade police had little to say about the shooting, calling it an open investigation. They did say Roman is a 10-year veteran and has been suspended with pay pending a criminal investigation into the shooting. Her personnel file wasn’t available Thursday.
A source familiar with the investigation, however, said Roman wasn’t suspended because of the accidental discharge. She was relieved of duty because she delayed telling her supervisor that her gun went off. That happened, the source said, because Roman had no idea Miranda had been shot until the incident was investigated.
Okay, hands up, who believes this load of nonsense? An open investigation. I should hope so. Cops are supposed to be trained in weapons safety. Pretty sure that includes unloading any ammunition prior to cleaning, buuuut that’s not what gets Ms. Roman in trouble, no. And she delayed mentioning this (translation: wasn’t going to say anything about it at all) because she had no idea she shot someone. Let’s see, if I’m cleaning a loaded weapon, and if that weapon fires, I can hear and see that happening. Pretty sure I’d notice a hole in my door, too. Not being a complete asshole, I’d rush to the door to make sure there wasn’t anyone in the hall at that time, because my first thoughts would be along the lines of “oh fuck, please don’t let anyone be outside, please don’t let anyone be outside, oh gods, what if I killed someone?” We’re expected to believe she just carried on, with no curiosity whatsoever about shooting through her door? This sounds like an episode of Keystone Kops.
The bullet that hit Miranda passed through his body and came out his back. He underwent surgery to close the artery in his arm and is now recovering at home. A sling holds up his left arm. Stitches run through his chest.
[…]
Married and the father of a 2-year-old, Miranda has been working at the apartment complex where he lives for three years. He moved to Miami from Cuba about five years ago. He has no plans to move because of the Sept. 15 incident and said he intends on returning to work after he recovers.
Miranda said he only knows Roman from exchanging pleasantries when they pass in the hallway. He said Roman hasn’t spoken with him since the shooting. If she did, Miranda said, he wouldn’t know what to say.
“I’m very frustrated. She’s caused me a lot of frustration,” he said. “It was very bad. I was in a lot of pain.”
Not even a “Oh hey, so sorry I almost killed you.” Apparently, Ms. Roman either does not care in the least, or is the most oblivious, unthinking, and uninquisitive person on the planet. If I had come that close to killing a young man, leaving his partner and child alone, I’d be crushed by guilt, sorrow, and regret. A terrific example of those who are supposed to protect and serve. At the very least, I hope to hell someone took Ms. Roman’s gun[s] away.
Via Raw Story.
Marcus Ranum says
Cops are not particularly competent with guns, though they carry them. There are lots of accidental discharge videos on youtube including one where a cop in Vegas shoots a suspect in the arm, while the suspect was lying on the ground with the cop waving a gun at them. And another where a cop shoots himself in an elevator where he re-holsters his (cocked and locked, natch) pistol and it goes off, the bullet bounces around, and ends up in the cop. It’s a complex variant of “suicide by cop”
kestrel says
Why does this never change? Years ago, YEARS -- we knew of a cop who was practicing a “quick-draw” type of maneuver and shot herself in the butt. I would think at some point, all these instances of idiocy with weapons would cause SOMEONE to draw the conclusion that cops need better training. Or maybe the weapons should be taken away from them; whatever, something needs to change.
She does not even say I’m sorry? Wow. What a failure of a human being.