Jun 30, 2009 7:13 pm US/Eastern
Files Released On Beach Cops Involved In Shootings
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ―
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Lawrence McCoy Jr. was shot on the MacArthur Causeway after police allege he robbed a taxicab driver of his car.
CBS
Within a four day period, Miami Beach Police were involved in two shootings that resulted in the deaths of two men; but after public outcry and requests from
CBS4 News, the internal affairs files for officers involved have been made public.
First was Husein Shehada's shooting. He was an unarmed tourist from Virginia shot by Officer Adam Tavss outside of Twist nightclub on Washington Avenue. Days later it was Lawrence McCoy who was shot dead, and again Officer Adam Tavss was involved in that shooting on the MacArthur Causeway, along with Officer Frank Celeste. McCoy's family says police told them their son was also unarmed.
Pictures taken at the morgue show McCoy's body riddled with 9 to 11 bullet holes—some are in the back and some are in the forearms. Police say they thought both men wee armed and maintain that McCoy had gun that he used to shoot at officers.
Now CBS4 News poured over the officers' internal files to get their background: Both fired their weapons for the first time in the Shehada and McCoy shootings. According to the files, Officer Adam Tavss was accused of taking cocaine after a Christmas party in 2007. A female officer followed him back to his house where she says he showed her a bag of cocaine and described it as bad stuff. She then said Tavss walked in to another room where she believed he ingested the drug. The next day Tavss was drug tested and those tests came up negative for drugs.
"With an allegation of that sort, internal affairs did conduct an investigation in which it was unsubstantiated and that just means there was no evidence sufficient enough to prove the complaint," said Detective Jenny Velazquez.
Tavss has been on the force for three years. Officer Celeste has been with the force for 11 years. The files only show the last five years of service and show that Celeste had 12 cases where he used his Tazer device. Investigators say that is not unusual.
"No, especially not for an officer that's been here for 11 years," said Det. Velazquez. "It's pretty consistent with, you know, this time frame here."
CBS4's Tiffani Helberg Contributed to This Report
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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