Derek Diaz family and friends speak at Orlando City Council meeting
ORLANDO, Florida. – Family members and supporters of Derek Diaz spoke at a meeting of the Orlando City Council on Monday.
Diaz was shot dead during a clash with police officers.
His family says they still have questions after watching body camera footage of the incident.
Relatives and supporters at the meeting complained about the way the video was shown to them, saying they couldn’t ask questions, and this happened just minutes before the video was released.
Supporters claim that Diaz was just sitting in his car eating a sandwich.
Police say Diaz was suspected of drug trafficking and appeared to be reaching for a weapon as they approached him.
Experts told FOX 35 News they believe the use of force is reasonable, but Diaz’s supporters disagree.
The family says there were no weapons in the car.
Diaz’s supporters said they want the city to use police budget money for more de-escalation training.
They also want to bring the officer who shot Diaz to justice.
Others who came to the meeting complained about their previous meeting with the same officer.
“If there is any action that needs to be taken against the officer, then we need to know about it,” Sonia Nava, the mother of Diaz’s child, said before the meeting. “Something needs to be done. If there’s anything else that he did wrong in his past, like I said, people come to us to speak out against them and we want to know, we want to know what happened. incidents with the same officer? Who else feared for their lives?
“He was probably scared,” Diana Colorado, Diaz’s cousin, said. “His life was taken in one second. It took him one second to move. He already had the door open. They could aggressively pull him out, they could hit him with a stun gun.
Following a speech by family members, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer offered condolences to the family and said prosecutors were still investigating the shooting.
