Dashcam Captures Florida Cop Fatally Shooting Mentally Ill Man
In dashcam footage released today by the family of 25-year-old Lavall Hall—the mentally ill man shot and killed by Miami Gardens, Fla. police officer Eddo Trimino in February—the officer can be heard shouting, "Get on the fucking ground or you're dead!" before firing five times.
As the Miami Herald reports, the shooting occurred Feb. 15, after police were called to Hall's home by his mother, who found her son standing outside nearly naked and waving a broomstick. According to CBS Miami, Hall's mother, Catherine Daniels, told officers that her son was diagnosed schizophrenic.
When police approached Hall, officers say, he became "agitated" and starting swinging the broomstick—one officer reportedly required stitches. Officers then reportedly fired Tasers at Hall, to no avail; after giving chase, Trimino caught up with Hall. When Hall apparently refused orders to lower himself to the ground, the officer fired five shots, killing Hall.
The attorney representing Hall's family released a 19-minute clip from the officers' dashcam to reporters Wednesday (a condensed version of that video, with a slow-motion effect added by Hall's family, embedded above). The intervening moments not depicted in the edited video as described by the Herald:
Ehrlich’s vehicle moves slowly down the street past the family’s home. As the video pans the street and homes, the patrol car’s bright lights illuminate the way. At one point Ehrlich can be heard saying that Hall is walking around with a broom in his hand, and says, “Every time I go near him he walks away.”
Then there is a split-second shot of Hall holding a broomstick, before he disappears. A few minutes later Hall is seen racing toward Ehrlich’s patrol car, then away from it. Hall is not seen again. Ehrlich can be heard saying, “Hey, easy,” at some point during a confrontation. Then Trimino’s commands can be heard clearly.
Trimino's lawyer, meanwhile, claims the video demonstrates that the officer feared for his life and was acting in self-defense.
“You’re trained to shoot at the center body mass. So it’s going to be a bit of a lower trajectory of the gun,” Trimino’s attorney, Andrew Axelrad told the Herald. “He’s not shooting at eye level, that’s in the movies. The video justifies the officer’s actions. You can see his fear.”
As the Herald notes, the last time a Florida police officer was indicted in a shooting death was in 1989.