NORTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A family is preparing to file suit after they said, their loved one was shot and killed during a traffic stop.
The grieving family of a man who was shot and killed by a Miami Police sergeant are calling his death unjust.
The shooting unfolded on March 8, at the intersection of Northwest 71st Street and 10th Avenue, just feet away from Miami Northwestern Senior High School, during what police called a routine traffic stop.
Following the incident, Miami Police Chief, Manny Morales told 7News, his officers pulled over a red Nissan Altima with two men inside.
The traffic stop then took a turn when a police sergeant arrived at the stop.
“Officers became aware that one of the individuals in the vehicle was armed. A struggle ensued, and one of the officers discharged his firearm,” said Morales.
Antwan Cooper, 34, laid lifeless on the street and died on the scene from his injuries.
A makeshift memorial now sits at the intersection where Cooper’s life came to an end.
The family’s attorney told 7News there’s unreleased video footage that will tell a different story from the one Miami Police has already come forward with.
“You will not see Mr. Antwan Cooper at anytime pull any gun on any person, not a police officer, not a sergeant. You will not see at anytime Mr. Cooper holding a gun or brandishing a weapon,” said Rawsi Williams, the attorney representing the Coopers.
Williams also said the video only shows Cooper at first cooperating with the officer and then attempting to run.
Daniella Pierre, President of the Miami-Dade NAACP, sat down with Miami’s chief of police following the shooting.
“We are looking at those departmental orders that the City of Miami Police has on its records now, and we will definitely call into question and provide some changes as we go along in this process,” said Pierre.
Morales met with Cooper’s family and released a statement to 7News, in part stating: “The loss of life is tragic under any circumstances, and the Miami PD holds the sanctity of life at the center of all we do … The department will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation by Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement.”
As the broken family continues to wipe their tears, they’re calling for criminal charges against the police sergeant who cut Cooper’s life short.
“He was kind, he was friendly, he was a good person, he would give you the shirt off his back,” said a grieving family member.
“Antwan was my dear heart. He was mine, he was my son, he was my boy,” said Helen Bryant, Cooper’s grandmother.
“There was other ways to handling the situation, that’s how I feel, but to shoot him in the head, like some sort of animal? That’s nowhere near justice,” said Cooper’s father.
The family said they won’t stop fighting.
“They took him away from me, and I can’t accept that. They gonna have to do something about this police officer. If he got a family, he gonna have to think about what he did to somebody else’s family. This was my family. This was our family that he took away from us,” said Bryant.
The FDLE investigation is said to take a few months.
Cooper will be laid to rest Saturday morning.
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