Injured protester accused of murder

FORT LAUDERDALE — A protest in downtown Fort Lauderdale this summer became infamous for a number of injured protesters, one criminally charged cop and mass leadership changes within the Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

Numerous internal investigations, of various degrees, were opened into officers and at least one of those investigations is now closed. Not because police have come to any conclusions, but because the protester at the center of the investigation hasbeen

charged with murder in an unrelated incident.

After the peaceful protest turned into a war zone in the evening hours on May 31, Dion Brown, 21, appeared at the hospital with a gaping hole, just under his lip.

In an interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel on June 5, he said he was shot with a rubber bullet by Fort Lauderdale police.

A Fort Lauderdale Police internal report released to the Sun Sentinel shows investigators looked into his case after the story published and found body-camera footage that seemed to line up with Brown’s claims. However, they were unsuccessful in reaching him to gather more information and temporarily closed his case on July 8.

They reopened it in September after learning Brown was wanted for the July 16 murder of a man in the parking garage of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, according to the report.

Brown’s complaint against Fort Lauderdale police was closed again in November. This time a review concluded no violations of department policy could be found.

“Without Mr. Brown’s cooperation, the cause of Mr. Brown’s injury cannot be confirmed,” the review said.

Brown was arrested in Oviedo, Florida, on Dec. 2 and has since been moved to Broward County, where he faces a first-degree murder charge.

At least two internal affairs investigations looking into officers are ongoing, said a Fort Lauderdale Police Department spokeswoman.

One investigation is for the shooting of a woman, LaToya Ratlieff, in the face with a rubber bullet during the protest as she was attempting to leave. Ratlieff, 34, drew national attention and has since spoken before Congress and advocated for reforms to the ways police approach protests.

Another investigation is for an officer who shoved a young protester to the ground.

The agency looks through all complaints about police, some through department reviews and others through internal affairs investigations. However, a police spokeswoman did not specify how many reviews or investigations related to the May protest have been initiated or closed.

She also would not confirm which, if any, review is underway into officers who were heard on bodycam video apparently reveling while firing at protesters, saying “get that motherf---er” and “pop his ass.”

‘They clearly shot me’

Earlier this year, Brown told the Sun Sentinel that the Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Fort Lauderdale in May was the first protest he’d ever been to.

Thousands marched peacefully during the early afternoon, but after the protest ended about 6:30 p.m., a skirmish broke out between police and protesters.

A line of officers assembled at the intersection of Southeast First Avenue and Southeast Second Street, lobbing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. Protesters returned with rocks, bottles and fireworks.

A viral-video captured Fort Lauderdale Police officer Steven Pohorence pushing a 19-year-old protester to the ground as she knelt in front of him. Pohorence was charged with battery and has a court date set for January.

Later that evening Officer Eliezer Ramos shot Ratlieff in the face with a rubber bullet as she walked through tear gas that police used to disperse demonstrators.

Brown told police officers in an incident report that he was in the middle of the skirmish wearing a green ski mask and black clothing.

He told the Sun Sentinel that while trying to kick a tear gas canister away, he saw a Fort Lauderdale police officer aim and shoot him. “They clearly shot me in the face,” he said.

A review of an officer’s body-camera footage in the internal affairs report said a man matching Brown’s description was shot at after throwing a garbage can at officers.

According to the report, the man ran away after being shot and it was “difficult to determine” if he was actually struck by the bullets.

The report said the man could not be identified as Brown, because his face was covered with the green mask.

A medical report Brown provided to the Sun Sentinel in June shows he checked into Broward Health Medical Center at 8:07 p.m.

According to the internal report, a Fort Lauderdale police officer found Brown with a small hole on the left side of his lip. A nurse said he believed the injury was caused by a firework.

A review of the officer’s bodycam footage showed Brown tell the officer he had a “cracked jaw.” But he was not able to speak or say much else. The cops told him to reach out to the department at a later date.

On June 5, Brown called police to a home in Fort Lauderdale and told them more details. A review of body-camera footage shows Brown told police he intended to sue them for shooting him while “representing his people.”

According the internal report, officers provided him a link to upload evidence. But he never submitted any evidence.

Later that afternoon, on June 5, Brown met with a reporter and photographer from the Sun Sentinel. The story published about his claims prompted officers to follow up on his case, according to emails contained in the internal affairs report.

‘No violations’

According to the internal affairs report, police tried to get in contact with Brown through various telephone numbers in June. All of their calls went unanswered. They sent letters, but those went unanswered, too.

On July 8, a sergeant wrote that the case was considered closed, pending new evidence or contact with Brown, according to the report.

In September, three months after the incident, the case was reopened because “additional contact information” for Brown was discovered, “as well as his involvement in unrelated criminal activity.”

A criminal records check was run on Brown to see if he was in prison. Although Brown has had run-ins with the law in South Florida in the past, he hadn’t yet been arrested. Another letter was sent to a new address and it also went unanswered.

Then police caught wind that Brown was wanted for a murder by the Seminole Police Department.

According to an arrest warrant, Brown attempted to rob a 37-year-old man sitting in his Mercedes Benz in the Casino parking garage. Accomplices with Brown that night told police Brown shot the man in the head before fleeing the scene.

He later hopped on a train to hide out in Central Florida, according to the warrant.

After learning of the murder and the hunt for Brown, Fort Lauderdale Police closed his case on Nov. 5.

“Without Mr. Brown’s cooperation, the cause of Mr. Brown’s injury cannot be confirmed,” the internal affairs report said.

Although Fort Lauderdale Police policies say rubber bullets should not be aimed at the head, throat or face of a suspect, the internal affairs report concluded “no violations of Department policy could be substantiated on the part of any Fort Lauderdale police personnel.”

Details about the investigations into officers Pohorence and Ramos will have to wait. Both cases were put on hold over the summer due to COVID19, along with any other internal investigations into complaints against police.

A spokeswoman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department said investigations resumed on Sept. 1.