Bursting into tears as she showed the hole where a bullet struck her car and nearly ended her life, Barbara Henry recounted her terrifying brush with the Plantation police last night.
"I was bleeding, I was in shock, I was screaming 'I'm a nurse, I work in Plantation and I'm on my way to work,'" Henry said.
Henry's ordeal started Monday night, as the 59-year-old nursing assistant was leaving her home and on her way to work.
"I was proceeding slowly, 5, 10, 15 miles per hour, that's how fast I was going," Henry said.
Then all of a sudden: "The gun shot, pow! I'll never forget that sound as long as I live."
One of the cops, identified as Officer Miguel Lopez, fired a single shot at the driver side window of Henry's car. It shattered the glass and passed inches from her head.
Glass from the window pierced her skin, cutting her arm. Henry thought she'd been hit.
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"Oh my god they shot me, the cops shot me, the police shot me," was the thought that she said raced through her head.
The officers had reportedly chased two alleged purse snatchers into nearby Sunrise. Henry believes cops thought she had something to do with the crime.
"They pushed me down on the floor, hands behind my back, and cuffed my hands," she said.
Henry was later released and has not been charged with a crime. Officer Lopez was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
Plantation police wouldn't comment, only to say Sunrise is handling the investigation.
Henry still can't believe she was nearly killed by the officer.
"I'm in pain, physically and mentally and emotionally, everything," she said. "And this thing has to stop where police just shoot and ask questions after, it has to stop."
