An officer opened fire on a driver after they were hit by a car Sunday afternoon at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, where a music festival was taking place, authorities confirmed.
An officer opened fire on a driver after they were hit by a car Sunday afternoon at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, where a music festival was taking place, authorities confirmed.
According to Miami Police Deputy Chief Armando Aguilar, an officer was directing traffic near 2nd Street and Biscayne Boulevard for the concert when a vehicle made contact with the officer. The officer then opened fire on the car.
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WATCH HEREThe driver, identified by his sister as 21-year-old Menelek Clarke, underwent surgery and was in critical but stable condition, police said.
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Clarke's sister, Sherylann Clarke, told NBC6 on Monday that her brother thought he was going to die and said he was wrongfully shot.
"Just a loud shot and glass moving everywhere," she said. "It all happened really, really fast.”
The two were in a BMW Sunday night as Menelek was looking for a parking space to attend the music festival.
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"We were all stopped, we were in the middle lane, he told everyone else to go with his hands and then he stood in front of my brother’s car and shot him,” Sherylann said.
The officer involved in the incident was also transported with minor injuries.
"There are a lot of cameras, both Miami Police cameras and private cameras, cameras that are attached to businesses that we are still reviewing," Aguilar said. "So we don't know exactly what happened but we do know there was physical contact between the officer and the vehicle that he ended up firing into. So it's too soon to tell exactly what happened, we're still reviewing a lot of that footage."
Authorities have also not confirmed whether there were more people inside the car at the time of the shooting but Sherylann told NBC6 she was also inside the black BMW when the incident happened.
“The only one that was firing the gun was the officer," Sherylann said. "My brother does not have a weapon on him. There’s no weapons, nothing. He wasn't carrying anything. When he got out of the car he still didn't have a weapon. He was in shock because he just got shot.”
The incident happened during the Best of the Best festival, known as the largest Caribbean music festival in North America, which was expected to draw around 12,000 attendees this year.
"I heard three shots, pow, pow, pow," one festival-goer told NBC6.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is leading the investigation, which is standard practice in police shootings.
This is a developing story.
