No charges for cops

3 officers justified in fatally shooting man accused of shoplifting, police chief says

Three Hallandale Beach police officers who fatally shot a man accused of shoplifting and armed robbery will not face criminal charges, a Broward County grand jury has decided.

“It was taken to the grand jury, and it was determined the officers were justified in their actions,” Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy said Monday.

The grand jury handed up its decision Thursday. The officers are Sgt. Brian Hubbert, 47; Sgt. Timothy Church, 44, and Officer Raymond Buckley, 48, said their attorney, Tony Alfero.

Church retired from police work this year, Flournoy said.

Eduardo Prieto Jr., 32, of Hialeah, was accused by employees of shoplifting at a Wal-Mart on Sept. 6, 2012.

Police received a call from a dispatcher about an armed robbery. Prieto was first described as having a knife, and the dispatcher later said he was armed with a knife and a gun, the police department said then.

Prieto drove away from the store, and officers followed him to a restaurant at 124 S. Federal Highway, where “officers perceived a threat and were forced to fire on the suspect,” the police department said.

The fatal gunfire happened in front of restaurant patrons.

Prieto’s ex-wife, Christina Sam Niego, filed a lawsuit in Broward County court alleging the wrongful death of her former husband.

On behalf of their two children and their paternal grandmother, she sued Wal-Mart, Broward County and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, which runs emergency dispatch, and the city of Hallandale Beach, which manages law enforcement there.

Attorneys for Wal-Mart and the sheriff’s office could not be reached.

Tony Rodriguez, a lawyer for Broward County, said he was unable to discuss pending litigation, and Andre McKenney, interim city attorney for Hallandale Beach, and Flournoy had the same responses.

The police officers were not sued individually.

“Our feeling is ultimately the Hallandale Beach Police Department was responsible for this by their negligent training and tactics that they’d taught their officers to deal with this circumstance,” said Jamie Sasson of The Ticktin Law Group, which represents Sam Niego. “He was ultimately shot approximately 20 times.” That lawsuit is continuing. The grand jury’s interim report in the Prieto case will be filed at a later date.