South Florida mother wants answers in deputy-involved shooting

Deosaran Maharaj shot, killed by BSO deputy in March

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – For one South Florida mother, every report from Ferguson brings back the day in March when she learned her son, Deosaran Maharaj, had been shot and killed by a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy in the cab of his truck.

"Every day (they) put it on the TV," Ramdaye Gosein said. "It's too much killing now."

But little attention has been paid to the killing of Maharaj, who worked as a coconut man, chopping and selling coconuts for a living.

"It hurts," Gosein told Local 10 News investigative reporter Bob Norman. "That's my son."

Just before the shooting, Maharaj was seen acting erratically at a gas station in Pompano Beach. Authorities said Maharaj had threatened a woman with the machete he used for work before Deputy Paul Yesbeck pulled Maharaj over.

According to the BSO, Maharaj initially got out of the truck, but he then got back inside against the order of Yesbeck, who shot him multiple times. Deputies said the machete was found in Maharaj's truck.

His sister, Neeralah, said deputies told her the fatal shot was in the back of Maharaj's neck.

"They said the machete was not in his hand," she said. "So if they did not see it, what reason (did) they shoot him for?"

After the killing, political operatives aligned with Sheriff Scott Israel publicized Maharaj's ongoing drug addiction and a battery charge for striking an employee with the butt end of the machete.

Family members told Local 10 that the announcement of his previous alleged crimes was unfair, and now the family wants the BSO to come public with its investigation.

They said eight months is long enough, though all the answers in the world still won't be enough for his mother.

"Nothing can ease my pain," Gosein said. "It's gone and it's gone forever."

The BSO told Local 10 that Yesbeck retired in August.