Puerto Rico Officer Convicted of Murder of Unarmed Man

A Puerto Rican police officer who killed an unarmed man in a shooting captured on videotape [HERE] was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder.

Javier Pagan Cruz, a 14-year police veteran, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the Aug. 11 shooting, which was widely broadcast on the Internet and local television. Sentencing was scheduled for April 15, judicial spokeswoman Valerie Mercado said.

The shooting occurred in the eastern coastal town of Humacao after the victim, Miguel Caceres Cruz, insulted an officer as police responded to a traffic jam.

During a scuffle that followed, Pagan's weapon went off and struck him in the leg. The video then shows Pagan wrestling Caceres to the floor and shooting him at least three times _ once in the head.

Two officers who witnessed the shooting have been charged as alleged accomplices and their cases are pending.

Pagan previously was accused of using excessive force in 2004. But the complaint was dropped after authorities decided he used appropriate means to subdue a motorcyclist resisting arrest. He also was suspended from the force for 60 days in 1999 because of domestic abuse. [MORE]