MIAMI – The city of Miami was granted a favorable summary judgment Monday in a civil suit related to a deadly police-involved shooting.
During a domestic dispute that officers were called to in August of 2011, Gibson Belizaire began shooting at officers, police say. They returned fire, killing Belizaire.
After the incident, Belizaire's mother filed a state battery claim and a federal civil rights claim against the city.
The officers' use of force was found to be reasonable in the Belizaire case. The city had no policy of using excessive force in cases where officers are being fired at.
Earlier this year, the Miami Police Department was found by the U.S. Department of Justice to be engaging in a pattern of excessive use of force in shooting of suspects, including seven black men fatally shot by officers over an eight-month period ending in 2011.