User:Airmike3/Miami Riot 1989

The Miami Riots of 1989 were three days of rioting sparked by the fatal shooting by a Miami Police officer of a motorcyclist and the death of a passenger as a result of the motorcycle crash.

Background
Miami has several suburbs within its borders, two of which are Liberty City, Miami, Florida and Overtown, Miami, Florida. These two suburbs are predominantly black neighborhoods where many inhabitants had felt a pent-up frustration of being marginalized by the city’s predominantly white and Cuban establishment. The history of Overtown, as a southern tropical backwater in 1923, was full of racism and open repression of the black population. In the early Twenties, the Ku Klux Klan was active and openly sponsored parades, vigilante raids through Overtown, lynched black men, and flat-out controlled the Miami Police Department.

Frustration was not only the result of the perception of the police, but also in the perception of preferance given to hispanic immigrants. Imigrants from Cuba are given status and protection if they manage to make it to Florida, whereas other immigrants from areas such as Haiti, the Bahamas, and other Carribean areas, are often deported regardless of where they may be caught. Such inequities combined to produce resentment and frustration amongst the black community, as it was percieved to be a racial inequality.

Segregation was also the norm in the city where black workers had to have a police-issued ID card to enter Miami Beach to work. Some wealth entered into the suburb during the period from the Thirties to the early Sixties. After World War II, some civil rights movements began by black soldiers returning from war who felt since they had fought for their country, they ought to enjoy it on the same level as whites. Still, accusations of police violence were rampant with numerous accounts of vicious beatings that sometimes resulted in death. In these instances, a cover story about suicide or a fight was given for the resultant death.

Construction of I-95 and I-395 also pushed the black middle class from Overtown to Liberty City and points north during the '60s. Many areas in Overtown became slums where Section 8 funding was provided, but buildings were allowed to deteriorate and became populated with gun-toting drug dealers and addicts.

The Incident
Clement Anthony Lloyd, a 23 year old African American, lived in Overtown, a suburb on Miami. He was known by many in his neighborhood as he drove his “blood-red” Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle through the neighborhood. He was known to ride it mostly for the thrill, rather than for actual transportation.

On January 16, 1989, Lloyd and a friend, Allen Blanchard who was visiting from the Virgin Islands, attended a parade honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The two left the parade at 5 PM on Lloyd’s motorcycle, heading to the apartment where Blanchard was staying with his older brother, Francis.

According to police reports, Officer John Mervolion spotted the two at 6:05 PM traveling about 60 miles an hour, twice the legal speed limit, southward on Northwest Second Avenue. Officer Mervolion flipped on his lights and began to pursue the two. Lloyd then turned west and then north onto Northwest Third Avenue, speeding away from Officer Mervolion, who had radioed in the chase.

About six blocks ahead, Officer William Lozano was standing behind his parked cruiser with another officer, Dawn Campbell, and a person who was reporting that the registration decal had been stolen from his license plate. Witnesses then said that Officer Lozano looked up, tossed his pen and notebook in his cruiser’s open trunk, drew his service revolver, a 9-millimeter automatic pistol, and stepped out into the street, approximately to the center line. When the motorcycle approached, Officer Lozano fired his weapon at the motorcyclist, striking Lloyd first in the helmet, which the bullet passed through, and then into his left temple, killing him instantly. The motorcycle continued for another 20 to 30 yards, veered out of control, and struck an oncoming car. The force of the impact threw the two men headfirst into the car’s windshield, with Blanchard’s head striking the windshield before the force threw them both back over the car. Witnesses say he (Blanchard) lay conscious in the street, whispering for help. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he died later of head injuries.

Lloyd’s body would lie on the street for more than two hours. Crowds began to gather and began throwing bottles, stones, and insults at Officer Lozano and the other police at the scene. Mayor Xavier Suarez, who arrived soon after, lifted the sheet so that Lloyd’s mother and sister could see the bodies; the Mayor would later apologize for that action, saying it may have helped fuel the riot that followed.

Aftermath
William Lozano, who had been on the Miami force for four years, was arrested January 24, 1989 and accused by prosecutors of manslaughter. He would face charges of two counts of manslaughter with a firearm, each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The State Attorney’s office, run by State Attorney for Dade County, Janet Reno, was intent on avoiding the same problems encountered in 1980, after the beating death of another black motorcyclist, Arthur McDuffie. The resulting violence from that incident, and the acquittal of the officers involved, was the city’s worst racial riot.

The Trial
The prosecutor, Don Horn, painted Officer Lozano as trigger-happy, saying he had at least 10 seconds to assess the situation. They claimed the situation did not merit the level of force and no one’s life had been in danger, so he had no need to shoot. Horn said he would produce witnesses that would testify Officer Lozano stepped out into the street and put himself in danger, the motorcycle never veered into the lane where Lozano was standing, and that Lozano could have easily stepped back. Horn implied that Lozano intentionally put himself into the path of the motorcycle in an attempt to justify the killing, calling the maneuver an ‘old Police Department trick’, but said modern guidelines specifically rule out such behavior. He said guidelines require such a maneuver to not put the officer in danger and only be used as a last resort. Horn said since Officer Lozano had violated those rules, he “failed to act responsibly and prudently.”

Lozano’s lawyer, Roy E. Black accused city officials of trying to make Lozano a scapegoat for the outbreak of racial violence. Lozano claimed to have shot Lloyd in self-defense, fearing for his life as he saw the speeding motorcycle headed towards him. Black depicted Lloyd as a man willing to do almost anything to avoid arrest. Both sides acknowledged that Blanchard made an obscene gesture to the officer who was engaged in the original chase.

Lozano’s lawyers contended that Lloyd was caring marijuana, $1,514 in cash, and whose blood contained alcohol, marijuana byproducts, and traces of cocaine, was a drug dealer and was willing to kill a police officer to avoid arrest. Lozano also testified that he was standing behind his patrol car, when he noticed a police car with its flashing lights in the distance. He stated that he did not realize a chase was underway, and stepped out into the street to see what was going on.

Lozano testified in his trial that he fired the fatal shot because, I feared for my life - I thought I was going to be killed. He said that the motorcycle had veered towards him as he walked into the street.

As I turned my body to face the motorcycle, he just came straight at me, Officer Lozano testified at his trial on two counts of manslaughter. ''And he just revved the motorcycle, and it made this tremendous noise like, 'Whaaa!' He was just aiming at me. I was just only able to just turn my body, draw my gun and shoot.''

Chief prosecutor John Hogan, noted that half a dozen witnesses said they had heard the motorcycle approaching and that it was difficult to believe Officer Lozano had not. He also noted the time it took for Officer Lozano to draw his weapon, which included unsnapping the holster cover, was also enough time for him to think and jump out of the motorcycle’s way.

Officer Dawn Campbell strongly supported Officer Lozano’s version of the events. Mr. Hogan, citing photographs of Officer Lozano talking with other officers after the shooting, said the police had concocted a story to justify the shooting, a claim which Lozano and Campbell denied.

Rumors spread that there would be more riots if Officer Lozano was acquitted. Such concerns were unfounded as Officer Lozano was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail.

Retrial and Acquittal
Lozano appealed his verdict and the appeals court overturned the decision. The court found that the jury may have feared an acquittal would prompt renewed racial disturbances. The retrial was moved to Orlando, a more conservative city. Lozano was acquitted in 1993. While there was some unrest at the announcing of the verdict, the response was muted. More than 1,000 officers stayed on 12-hour shifts and some 200 National Guard troops were on standby, but no real problems ensued. Some 60 arrests took place and some isolated beatings, rock throwing, and some shots at police officers were reported, but nothing remotely close to the violence that took place in 1989.