08-22-2011, 01:16 AM
Miami police shoot, kill man in confrontation
Miami police released this photo of Drew Pozdol, 26, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with an officer early Sunday morning. Police said he had a knife.
BY HANNAH SAMPSON
Drew Randolph Pozdol was a regular at Via Del Rio, a restaurant, bar and pool hall in Miami, a friend said.
Early Sunday morning, his life ended at the strip mall that houses the joint after a confrontation with a Miami police officer turned deadly.
Details about what led up to the altercation and shooting were scarce, but investigators said the officer was at the restaurant at 1673 NW 27th Ave., just before 2 a.m. when he and Pozdol, 26, were involved in a confrontation.
Police said Pozdol was armed with a knife. That’s about all they could say Sunday.
“We just know he was at the point where he had to pull out his gun,” Miami police spokeswoman Keandra Simmons said of the officer, who has not been identified and had not yet given a statement Sunday afternoon.
It’s unclear if the officer was on or off-duty at the time of the incident, but Simmons said he had not been dispatched to the restaurant. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay, per department policy.
Friend Manny Lop Jr., who was not at Via Del Rio Sunday night, said other witnesses told him that Pozdol shoved the officer and that the situation escalated.
Lop, 36, said his friend of more than 12 years lived nearby and had frequently been picked on in the neighborhood and even robbed.
“He always carried a knife for protection,” said Lop, who wept as he talked to reporters.
He said Pozdol drank often to escape depression and mostly enjoyed playing video games. The two had gotten boxer puppies from the same litter recently, Lop said. The friends named the pups D. Wade and LeBron.
Lop said he didn’t believe his friend would have pulled a knife on an officer; he said Pozdol would have been afraid to do that.
“Why not Taser him? Why not shoot him in the leg?” he wondered. “If I would’ve been here, I know I would’ve done something.” He said he was trying now to raise money for his friend’s funeral.
“I feel like I lost a little brother here,” he said.
Reached by phone, a woman who identified herself as Podzol’s mother but would not give her name said she did not want to say anything until she spoke to an attorney. “This is unbelievable,” the woman said.
Investigators said Pozdol had a criminal history including arrests for robbery, battery, assault, resisting an officer with violence and battery on a firefighter or police officer.
Pozdol’s father was recently in the news for his own problems with the law.
Randolph Jerome Pozdol, 66, is in jail in Miami-Dade awaiting trial for child pornography charges. He also faces a charge of sexual battery on a minor in Broward County. Investigators said that after first targeting the elder Pozdol in 2009, they searched his home and found videos of a man they say is him sexually assaulting two children and a woman, all unconscious and presumed to be drugged.
The woman, police said, was Pozdol’s mistress and the videos were shot in her Dania Beach apartment. She died in 2006 of what was ruled an accidental drug overdose at the time. Investigators in Broward said last month they were looking into whether Randolph Pozdol caused her death by drugging her. His attorney has said Pozdol has nothing to do with the woman’s death.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/21/2 ... z1ViSa9QDF (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/21/2368731/miami-police-shoot-kill-man-in.html#ixzz1ViSa9QDF)
Miami police released this photo of Drew Pozdol, 26, who was shot and killed during a confrontation with an officer early Sunday morning. Police said he had a knife.
BY HANNAH SAMPSON
Drew Randolph Pozdol was a regular at Via Del Rio, a restaurant, bar and pool hall in Miami, a friend said.
Early Sunday morning, his life ended at the strip mall that houses the joint after a confrontation with a Miami police officer turned deadly.
Details about what led up to the altercation and shooting were scarce, but investigators said the officer was at the restaurant at 1673 NW 27th Ave., just before 2 a.m. when he and Pozdol, 26, were involved in a confrontation.
Police said Pozdol was armed with a knife. That’s about all they could say Sunday.
“We just know he was at the point where he had to pull out his gun,” Miami police spokeswoman Keandra Simmons said of the officer, who has not been identified and had not yet given a statement Sunday afternoon.
It’s unclear if the officer was on or off-duty at the time of the incident, but Simmons said he had not been dispatched to the restaurant. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay, per department policy.
Friend Manny Lop Jr., who was not at Via Del Rio Sunday night, said other witnesses told him that Pozdol shoved the officer and that the situation escalated.
Lop, 36, said his friend of more than 12 years lived nearby and had frequently been picked on in the neighborhood and even robbed.
“He always carried a knife for protection,” said Lop, who wept as he talked to reporters.
He said Pozdol drank often to escape depression and mostly enjoyed playing video games. The two had gotten boxer puppies from the same litter recently, Lop said. The friends named the pups D. Wade and LeBron.
Lop said he didn’t believe his friend would have pulled a knife on an officer; he said Pozdol would have been afraid to do that.
“Why not Taser him? Why not shoot him in the leg?” he wondered. “If I would’ve been here, I know I would’ve done something.” He said he was trying now to raise money for his friend’s funeral.
“I feel like I lost a little brother here,” he said.
Reached by phone, a woman who identified herself as Podzol’s mother but would not give her name said she did not want to say anything until she spoke to an attorney. “This is unbelievable,” the woman said.
Investigators said Pozdol had a criminal history including arrests for robbery, battery, assault, resisting an officer with violence and battery on a firefighter or police officer.
Pozdol’s father was recently in the news for his own problems with the law.
Randolph Jerome Pozdol, 66, is in jail in Miami-Dade awaiting trial for child pornography charges. He also faces a charge of sexual battery on a minor in Broward County. Investigators said that after first targeting the elder Pozdol in 2009, they searched his home and found videos of a man they say is him sexually assaulting two children and a woman, all unconscious and presumed to be drugged.
The woman, police said, was Pozdol’s mistress and the videos were shot in her Dania Beach apartment. She died in 2006 of what was ruled an accidental drug overdose at the time. Investigators in Broward said last month they were looking into whether Randolph Pozdol caused her death by drugging her. His attorney has said Pozdol has nothing to do with the woman’s death.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/21/2 ... z1ViSa9QDF (http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/21/2368731/miami-police-shoot-kill-man-in.html#ixzz1ViSa9QDF)