By Brandon Beyer, Marisela Burgos, Rubén Rosario, Alex Browning A woman who was shot in the eye by an officer’s rubber bullet during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 set to settle her lawsuit with the City of Fort Lauderdale. City commissioners voted Tuesday night to approve a nearly $2 million settlement with LaToya Ratlieff. […]
By Tess Riski, Miami Herald The Broward State Attorney’s Office has dropped criminal charges against former Miami City Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla and lobbyist Bill Riley Jr., the agency said in a news release Wednesday, putting an end to a high-profile corruption case that was set for trial next month. “After a substantial […]
By Charles Rabin, Miami Herald Joe Martinez, the Miami-Dade commissioner suspended by the governor for his alleged participation in a public corruption scheme that prosecutors say netted him thousands of dollars, took a defiant pose before a bank of television cameras Tuesday morning, announcing his entry into a crowded field vying to become Miami-Dade County’s […]
By Marybel Rodriguez, CBS News FORT LAUDERDALE – It was four years ago when hundreds of people gathered in Fort Lauderdale to protest the death of George Floyd and it was on that day, May 31, 2020, when Latoya Ratlieff claims to have been pepper sprayed and shot by police with rubber bullets. “I may have suffered some […]
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION OPA-LOCKA FACES TRIAL FOR SAVAGE BEATING OF MENTALLY ILL TEENAGER INSIDE HIS HOME Citing the savage beating of Jafet Castro, “a teenager suffering from mental illness,” by Opa-Locka police officers, U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams denied the City’s request to dismiss the case. The police officer defendants named in the lawsuit […]
By Camila Burris, Miami Herald Over three years after Fort Lauderdale police officer Eliezer Ramos shot a foam rubber bullet into the face of LaToya Ratlieff, a federal judge ruled that the officer’s defense of “just-following-orders” does not afford him qualified immunity from Ratlieff’s civil rights lawsuit against him. The recent ruling means that Ramos […]
By Aaron Leibowitz, Miami Herald The town of Miami Lakes must pay the legal fees its former mayor spent to successfully defend himself against criminal charges almost a decade ago, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge ruled Friday, potentially leaving taxpayers on the hook for millions of dollars. The decision is a victory for Michael Pizzi […]
By Andrea Chu, 10 Tampa Bay WTSP After facing some legal challenges, Rebekah Jones will officially have her name on the ballot for Florida Congressional District 1. On Monday night, a day before the primary, an appeals court sided with the former Florida COVID data worker, reversing a previous lower-court ruling that had removed her from the race. In […]
By Raychel Lean, Daily Business Review Though video footage of George Floyd’s neck under the knee of a police officer propelled the issue of police brutality to the forefront of public consciousness, many attorneys are still reluctant to take on cases that could help tackle the problem. That’s according to the South Florida team representing […]
By Sarah Blaskey, The Miami Herald Two years ago, almost to the day, Fort Lauderdale police officer Eliezer Ramos raised a weapon, took aim through a cloud of tear gas and shot LaToya Ratlieff with a so-called rubber bullet, fracturing her eye socket. Ratlieff had been peacefully demonstrating in downtown Fort Lauderdale on May 31, […]
