Attorney: Surveillance Video Shows Night Miami-Dade Police Officer 'Murdered' Man
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The family of a man shot and killed by Miami-Dade police lost a round in court Wednesday.
Edeline Prosper, the widow of Junior Prosper, was hoping a judge would order detectives to release details of what happened the night her husband was killed in September of 2015.
Her request was denied by a Miami-Dade District judge.
Her attorney was able to find surveillance video of the night Junior Prosper was killed.
Attorneys for Prosper's family told CB4's Ted Scouten the grainy, blurry video shows the deadly struggled between Prosper and the Miami-Dade officer and possibly the fatal shooting.
"In the video, it looks like Junior is on the ground, he is crawling away from the officer and then of course you see Junior not be able to move and you would surmise he had already been shot," explained Michael Oppenheimer.
Edeline Prosper was pregnant with the couple's second child when he was killed 16 months ago.
"Every single day his 4-year-old son asks for him and I don't know what to tell him," she said.
With her request for information turned down, now she's asking for the public's help.
"We need answers," she told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Downtown Miami. "We're just crying out for answers, please!"
At the time, investigators said Prosper inexplicably crashed his cab into a traffic pole on I-95 near NW 119th Street and then took off running onto the interstate.
The family said they believe Prosper was stumbling and disoriented.
An officer went after him and got into a struggle.
Miami-Dade police are not speaking about the case. But when it happened, they explained their side.
"This individual started biting the officer to the point where the officer had to discharge his firearm," Miami-Dade police Det. Daniel Ferrin said at the time of the incident.
But Oppenheimer sees it differently.
"Junior Prosper was unarmed. He had no gun, he had no knife, he had no weapon at all. He was gunned down," he said. "In fact, he was murdered by Officer Martin."
The family hopes an autopsy report or the police investigation can fill in the blanks on what happened that night.
His wife said Junior was never convicted of any crimes, did not drink or do drugs. They're wondering if he had a medical problem.
"It has been 16 months – 16 months and law enforcement and the government is still saying there is an ongoing criminal investigation," Oppenheimer said. "You have got to be kidding, that's a joke. What are they waiting for?"
The case now moves into federal court where the family is filing a civil rights action.
They're asking for compensation as well as information about the case.
They'll also be filing a wrongful death suit.