A man who was shot by Miami Police officers during a confrontation at a Model City home back in March that was caught on camera is no longer facing charges. NBC6’s Christian Colón reports
A man who was shot by Miami Police officers during a confrontation at a Model City home back in March that was caught on camera is no longer facing charges.
Donald Armstrong was officially cleared from any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting incident on Thursday.
Armstrong, 48, 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.
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."
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Officers responded and confronted Armstrong, who was armed with "what appeared to be a long sharp object," the report said.
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.
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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.
Armstrong was arrested for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence following the encounter.
In April, state attorneys dropped the assault charge and the resisting charge was lowered to a misdemeanor.
However, on Thursday, Miami-Dade state attorneys decided to drop the remaining misdemeanor charge in exchange for a guilty plea on an unrelated case.
Armstrong was on probation for an unrelated case the day of the shooting. Because police found drugs in his system, they were able to prove Armstrong violated his probation.
His attorney, Larry Handfield, told NBC6 Armstrong pled guilty to violating his probation and took drug classes. In exchange, state attorneys dropped the misdemeanor.
