Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) - Two policemen received one of the department’s top awards for bravery for a police shooting that sparked community protests about excessive police force.
Miami Police Officers Roderick Passmore and Eric Gonzalez received the Silver Star on Wednesday.
Police said the officers were awarded because a preliminary investigation showed the senior officer acted to save his partner’s life.
Police said Orett Kerr, 23, pulled out a handgun that discharged near Gonzalez, leaving severe powder burns on the officer’s face. Then Passmore shot Kerr in the back.
Kerr’s lawyer has said the gun was not belong to his client and Kerr did not fire it. He said police threw him on top of the gun and it discharged during the struggle.
Kerr is being held without bail at the Miami-Dade County Jail on charges including attempted murder of a police officer.
The Jan. 25 shooting occurred days after Miami-Dade police fatally shot an unarmed man in a stolen car after a parade honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Both shootings were followed by nonviolent protests.
The police department has given its preliminary investigation to the State Attorney’s Office, which has not closed its case. The FBI is also watching the case, and civil rights groups have asked the U.S. Justice Department to get involved.
“Rewarding an officer for conduct that still is the subject of an investigation strikes me as uncommon and highly questionable,’' said Merrick Bobb, executive director of the Police Assessment Resource Center, a national group that monitors police practices.
“Generally, in a controversial case, it’s more prudent to wait for all the facts to be investigated and an investigation to be concluded before announcing conclusions.”