It’s Wednesday, October 21st - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - A Miami-Dade police officer was shot during a narcotics investigation at an apartment complex Tuesday evening in West Miami while four men were taken into custody.
The Miami-Dade Police Department confirmed the police-involved shooting just before 7 p.m. in the area of Southwest 67th Avenue and 20th Street. The officer was conducting an investigation with the department's narcotics bureau and the Drug Enforcement Administration when they were met with gunfire. The officers exchanged gunfire, and in the process, the Miami-Dade officer was shot in the ear. He was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition and later released. Four men, including the suspected shooter, were taken into custody and one was transported to the hospital with an apparent gunshot wound
No. 2 - City of Miami Police say they will discipline a police officer who was photographed wearing a Trump face mask while in uniform at an early voting polling location Tuesday morning.
The photo was tweeted by Steve Simeonidis, Chair of Miami-Dade Democrats, inside the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in Downtown Miami. In his Tweet, Simeonidis calls the officer's mask a form of "voter intimidation". The police officer in the picture, whose name tag identifies them as Officer Ubeda, can be seen wearing a "Trump 2020' face mask. In a statement, Miami Police said they were aware of the photograph, calling the officer's behavior unacceptable.
No. 3 - Florida is adding more than 3,000 new cases of coronavirus a day, the highest weekly average since Labor Day.
Despite that, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said school closures will not take place no matter how many more cases the state faces. The share of new tests coming back positive Monday was 6.2%, boosting that weekly rate to its highest levels in more than five weeks. Those trends have not gone unnoticed at Miami's Nicklaus Children's Hospital, but the head of pediatric services there does not think the reopening of schools for in-person learning is to blame. To hear what else he said, click here for the story from NBC 6 investigator Tony Pipitone.
Local
No. 4 - Cellphone video showed the moment a passenger punched a Delta flight attendant on a plane at Miami International Airport.
The video was taken Monday evening on Flight 1997 bound for Atlanta. The video doesn't show how the altercation started, but witnesses say the passenger's boyfriend refused to put on his seatbelt, and in response, the flight attendant asked them to leave the plane. What the video does show is the passenger, with her mask down to her chin, visibly upset and punching the flight attendant in the face. The passenger then tells her repeatedly, "You shouldn't have touched me," and accused the flight attendant of pushing her. The altercation continued until other passengers intervened. It's unclear what happened after the video was recorded.
No. 5 - Amid the worst wildfire season in decades, a South Florida couple was trapped by a forest fire on a Colorado mountainside.
It happened Monday near Silverton in the southwest part of the state. A group of 18 hikers were on the popular Ice Lake trail in the San Juan Mountains. When the hikers reached the end of the trail, they were enjoying the spectacular vista of Ice Lake and the surrounding peaks when they noticed smoke rising from below. The trail they had just hiked, along with a road, was blocked by rapidly growing fire which covered more than 300 acres in the blink of an eye. To hear how the couple was able to make it out safely, click here for the story from reporter Ari Odzer you’ll see Only on 6.
No. 6 - Weatherwise, South Florida remains under a flood watch through Wednesday evening with showers and storms sticking around for the next few days. Keep your NBC 6 app handy for push alerts on any severe weather as well as First Alert Doppler 6000.
