Eight days after Barbara Henry's SUV was shot at by a Plantation police officer, it was on its way to a repair shop on the back of a flatbed tow truck, it's driver's side window shattered by the cop's bullet.
"They're supposed to serve and protect, but this one tried to kill me, " Henry said, still visibly shaken by the incident. "I'm still a wreck, physically, mentally, and emotionally, I'm a wreck, just a wreck."
On the night of February 8th, Plantation Police officer Miguel Lopez was assisting Sunrise Police in their search for an armed robber. Lopez reportedly told investigators that Henry drove her vehicle into the crime scene perimeter and the truck's rear-view mirror hit him. Fearing for his life, Lopez fired his gun.
Henry says that scenario is a work of fiction, maintaining she never saw a crime scene, and was just on her way to her job as a nurse's assistant. If she had been killed by the bullet, Henry says she has no doubt police would've manufactured an even bigger lie to cover their tracks.
"You would hear how I hit and run or tried to escape or something like that," Henry said. "But it's not fair for him to be back at work and I'm here suffering, I didn't do anything wrong, I was just on my way to work, it's not fair, he should never be allowed to be a cop, he should never be allowed to wear a badge."
The just-released police report doesn't clear up the issue of who's right or wrong. It contains very few details, pointing out that officer Lopez decided not to speak on the advice of a police union attorney who came to the scene. The report does say Lopez complained of pain to the right forearm and was treated by paramedics. Shards of glass exploded into Barbara Henry's arm. It's still swollen.
"I don't know when I will get over this," she said. "I just thank God I'm alive today."
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Sunrise Police are conducting the investigation into the incident, and they won't comment until it's over. Plantation Police will only say that officer Lopez is on desk duty until the investigation is finished. A call to the officer's lawyer for a comment was not returned.
