A man who was shot by Miami Police officers during a confrontation at a Model City home last month that was caught on camera had one of his charges dropped and another reduced to a misdemeanor, his attorneys and prosecutors said Tuesday.
Donald Lenard Armstrong, 47, was shot multiple times by officers during the March 7 incident at a home on Northwest 7th Court that was captured on cellphone video by a witness.
He was later charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence, but his attorneys said Tuesday that the assault charge was dropped and the resisting an officer charge was dropped to a misdemeanor.
Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office officials confirmed that they chose not to press the assault charges and said the misdemeanor resisting charge was filed and transferred to a county court.
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According to an arrest report, Armstrong's mother had called 911 asking for officers to be sent "due to his behavior," explaining he "was going through an episode and possibly high on narcotics."
Officers responded and confronted Armstrong, who was armed with "what appeared to be a long sharp object," the report said.
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The report said Armstrong was on the porch of the home "acting in a bizarre manner" and screaming at officers, telling them to shoot him in his heart.
The officers told him to drop the object in his hand multiple times but he refused, and one officer used an electronic control weapon on Armstrong, who removed the probes from himself, the report said.
When the officer fired the electronic control weapon a second time, Armstrong became "more enraged" and lunged at officers "while thrusting the object towards the officers," the report said.
That's when Armstrong was shot multiple times by officers.
On a witness's cellphone video obtained by NBC6, mother Denise Armstrong is seen standing on her porch trying to talk with her son. During the interaction, police are heard yelling for her and others to get away from him.
Family members said the object he was holding was a screwdriver.
"I called police to try and get him some help. I need you to pray for him, pray for him, please Lord," Denise Armstrong said.
Armstrong's attorney, Ben Crump, and co-counsel, Larry Handfield, had previously demanded that the charges be dropped.
Crump said Armstrong was shot six times and claimed he'd been paralyzed, but said it was unclear whether it was permanent.
Handfield on Tuesday said he's relieved the more serious charge was dropped but said he wants the misdemeanor charge also dropped.
"I’m happy that he is not facing felony charges, I believe that the evidence does not support even the misdemeanor charge because there’s no indication that, listen, you’re under arrest if you don’t comply, then we will arrest you for resisting arrest, so there was no resistance to the arrest because there was never any pronouncement that he was under arrest," Handfield said.
Armstrong will be staying in jail because he's facing a probation violation. Handfield said he remains in a medical unit at the jail.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading the investigation into the shooting, which is standard practice.
The shooting led to calls from some in the community for a non-police crisis response program.
Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales also released a statement after the shooting.
"This incident has been an event that impacted our entire community. Transparency and accountability to our community will always remain our goal," Morales said in the statement. "Communication is paramount to our communities, and we want to ensure all information we disseminate is accurate. The community needs to hear directly from me about the situation. We have two parallel investigations going. One by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, an outside agency that investigates all police-involved shootings, and a second by Miami PD. We are already in the process of our internal investigation regarding all actions taken. I pledge to ensure that our department does better in addressing calls involving mental and behavioral issues. I am asking all of us to pray for Mr. Armstrong and his family during this difficult time."
