A guy was shot and killed by officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) on his property in the Redlands in November 2023. His family is now suing the county.
Gabriela Cueli sued Miami-Dade County for wrongful death on behalf of her father’s estate, Osvaldo Cueli.
She said that the county was careless and didn’t follow the right procedures for police encounters and the use of force, didn’t give officers the right training and supervision during encounters with citizens, and didn’t set up or follow through with a reasonable review policy for citizen complaints against police officers.
“The suit further alleges that the defendant covered up the unjustified shooting by manipulating the media by advocating a false narrative that the police officers involved in the shooting killed Osvaldo Cueli in self-defense,” it says.
“The purpose of this false narrative was to avoid civil liability, paint Osvaldo Cueli as the aggressor, and similarly avoid potential criminal prosecution of the police officers who killed the decedent.”
In the evening of November 29, 2023, Cueli, a 59-year-old father of two and grandfather of three, drove to the edge of his 10-acre property and pulled out a gun because he thought he saw someone breaking in.
His family said that Cueli wasn’t the type to carry a gun, but they were worried about their safety.
“He told my grandmother, “How am I expected to defend myself? With a piece of rock? A rock is useless to me.
“Clearly, because of what was going on, she gave it to him even though she wasn’t happy,” Gabriela told New Times earlier this year.
Two pickup trucks with darkened windows showed up as Cueli and his teenage son, who is also named Osvaldo, walked closer to the property line.
When the driver of one started shooting, the elder Cueli was killed. As Osvaldo put it, they had no idea that the two guys in jeans and plain shirts were police officers.
He also said that the guys didn’t say who they were before shooting and that his father didn’t point a gun at them.
“They both came really close to the trees, and they blocked us in,” he said. They began shooting from inside the car, which did not have any lights on.
They didn’t say who they were. The windows were shut out because they weren’t put down.
Gabriela Cueli took a video with her phone soon after the killing that shows her father lying on the ground with blood coming out of his mouth.
One of the police officers can be heard saying, “We identified ourselves,” and then they step on Cueli’s still body.
