Miami Police Officer Kills Mentally Ill Black Man

• Vietnam Veteran Shot in the Back of the Head by Aggressive Cops

Three Miami-Dade County police officers struggled with a man whom relatives described as mentally ill before one of the officers shot and killed the man.  Randy Carlos Baker, 49, an Army veteran, died on the way to a hospital. Baker's family said he died in the street where he was shot. According to witnesses, Baker was walking home in West Perrine, carrying a soda, when Officer Saavedra pulled up to him in his police car. Baker, who family members say was mentally ill, was known in the neighborhood as someone who was ''not right in the head,'' but they also say he wasn't dangerous.When Saavedra stopped Baker, the two men began to argue. According to Angela Baker, who witnessed her cousin's shooting, Saavedra ordered Baker to get out of the street, and Baker asked why. ''I guess the police officer got offended,'' said Angela Baker, who added that Saavedra got out of his car, grabbed Baker and started hitting him, despite pleas from herself and others to stop because Randy Baker was mentally ill. Two other officers -- Millie Garcia and Della Oros -- arrived and jumped into the fray with their batons. Police say Baker wrestled a baton away from one of them and struck Garcia in the mouth and Oros in the back of the head. Angela Baker said after one of the female officers was hit, the other one struck Randy from behind. When Randy turned to face her, Saavedra stepped up and shot him in the back of the head. After Randy fell, Angela said, Saavedra shot him twice more in the chest. Baker's relatives said he only fought back because the officers hit him first for no reason. Brad Brown, president of the Miami-Dade branch of the NAACP, said "we all know that most people who are shot by police are young African-Americans and people with mental illness, here we have someone who falls within both categories."[more] and  [more] and [more]

• Pictured above: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers hose down the crime scene where Randy Baker, 49, was shot  by police in West Perrine. [more]
• Family Files Complaint After Police Shooting [more] and  [more]
  
• NAACP Calls For Investigation Into Police Shooting [more]
• Shooting fuels anger [more]

Comments

[Beatriz Luis]

THE RIGHT TO LIVE
My name is Beatriz Luis Garcia, I am the mother of Leonardo, LEO.

On the afternoon of January 16, 2004, my 17 year old son "Leonardo Barquin", left my house and has not returned. It's horrible for a mother to wake up each day and not have her son, we're not prepared to say goodbye to them first.

He and a friend together jumped the fence of a house, the police say it was for robbery, but when they caught them, they had nothing, they were without cars or bikes, they were walking, it was one o'clock in the afternoon, and they didn't break any windows to enter the house. I think as teenagers, they were up to some mischief, their first mischief, and the devil crossed their path.

If "Leonardo Barquin" was doing something incorrect, he should've been placed in front of a jury for them to decide his sentence. "Jorge Espinosa" couldn't have killed him, or beat him then, he's a murderer, not a police officer, the boy was unarmed.

This Metro Dade police officer named "Jorge Espinosa" with records of "police brutality", shot my son in the back three times and beat him to the point where his casket could not be opened at the funeral because he was so disfigured. After he shot him, he beat him in his face and all over his body. They put more than 60 transfusions of blood in the boy and he died alone in the hospital six hours later because no one called me. In spite of knowing his name, the police never called me and he died alone in the hospital. This murderer's name is "Jorge Espinosa", he is armed and walking the streets because the criminal department determined that the murder was justified. I ask myself if they would've taken different measures with this man's history of police brutality, if my son would still be here? Who's going to answer when this man does it again? But there will be justice, this man will not remain unpunished. This is the first step of many to come, for example my constant denouncement that this man named "Jorge Espinosa" is still on the streets with a weapon in his hand. This murderer took from me the most valuable thing in my life and for the rest of his, I will be here to call him a murderer and to fight for justice for this man, because if God wants to have justice in the sky, he can, but here, on the ground, who is in charge is ME.






UNTIL WHEN?
THIS IS A DENOUNCEMENT

It has now been 18 months since my son has gone and each day is worse. The pain has grown with time, today hurts more than yesterday, the loss of a son has no consolation, and even more when a murderer takes him.
How do you stop this brutality? Who gives this power to the police to take justice in their hands? Or is it that they have the license to kill?
There will be justice and all the weight of the law will fall on this murderer. The laws have to be stricter against police when they commit these atrocities that is why you must denounce the brutalities. Not only is it brutal to kill, but to stop you for a ticket and verbally assault you, we have rights and they cannot do that. It has been 14 months that a Hialeah police officer brutally beat Osiel Santana, he too was unarmed like my son. He died a few hours later in the hospital. Among the things the police say, now they say that he beat himself in spite of being handcuffed. It has been two years now that the Sweetwater police almost beat to death Peter Daniel. Fortunately, this boy is alive but he lost part of his liver and each day he wakes up he sees a scar that runs along his body of almost 100 stitches in length. A few months ago, the case of Cesar Augusto Rada, a young man, 31 years old, who was studying psychology, was a model, was shot in his chest by a police officer standing in front of his house, in front of his father. I ask myself, do the police have this right, always alleging that their lives are in danger? Through this email we can make denouncements, we need to unite. We have to remember that in groups there is power and together we can make a difference and construct a better future for our children. The mothers cannot remain quiet, they have to denounce when their son is mistreated or offended by a police officer, they cannot do that, they are not justice, they don't have the right to abuse and kill our children.
leonardobarquin@yahoo.com






NO MORE POLICE BRUTALITY
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS, WE LOVE YOU

"Leonardo Barquin", 17 years old, who was unarmed, was a loving boy and a good boy. We all miss him very much, mainly his seven and eight year old brothers. They are the ones who keep me alive. Every night they pray for him and they say that now, in our home, lives an ANGEL. It's very difficult to continue living after this pain, the heart can hurt, it's not an expression, one’s life leaves them.
THE LOVE LIVES FOREVER IN OUR MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS. BECAUSE IN OUR HEARTS, OUR LOVED ONES WILL BE WITH US EACH DAY.
WORDS DO NO EXIST, NOR TEARS, THAT CAN EXPLAIN THIS PAIN.
I ONLY HAVE A PIECE OF MY HEART LEFT.
I LOVE YOU FOREVER, MY BABY.
FROM, YOUR MOTHER.
LEONARDO BARQUIN
APRIL 16, 1986- JANUARY 16, 2004

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[MrTimt]

Do you think we'll see the day when LCD monitors are replaced by holographic displays? Screens that literally appear out of thin air in full color?

What do you think? Holographic technology is still fairly new but there are scientists out there who believe we've only begun to tap into it.

There are also people working on holographic based cloaking devices for use in combat. In 10 years we could be looking back on the technology of today and laughing.

Thoughts?

[aldolopur]

I've already come to the conclusion that one diet will work wonders for one person yet not make a slight difference to another.
What diets have you done that actually worked for you?
How long did you keep it up? (Yes I'm assuming you gave up at some point)

I've done many diets in my life and each time I gave up keeping it going for various reasons.
One does stand out though and that's the cabbage soup diet. It is meant to cleanse your body of all the bad foods you've had and should only be done for one week since it is not a diet for life. I can say it really worked. My mum and I did it (I think 10 years ago) She lost about 3 kg in that week and looked no different in her appearance. I, on the other hand lost nothing, yet I looked great.
In a nut shell the diet consists of having a certain recipe for cabbage soup which you can eat as much as you want the entire week, and every day you eat something else (can't remember the list though..)

How about you?