For Officer Ronald Neubauer, it's second 2018 shooting involving mental health issues

Thanksgiving police-involved shooting hurts 15-year-old boy in foster care

LEISURE CITY, Fla. – A little more than a month after prosecutors cleared him in a shooting involving a man with mental health issues, Miami-Dade Police Department Officer Ronald Neubauer was linked to another police-involved shooting. This time it involved a troubled teenager. 

On Thanksgiving, the 26-year distinguished veteran was among a group of police officers who responded to a 3-bedroom home at 30120 SW 146 Ave., in Leisure City, near Homestead. Neighbors and relatives said a retired social worker was running a foster home. 

Lee and Crystal Bradshaw, the owners of the home, needed the help of police officers when their newest arrival to the home, a 15-year-old boy, turned violent and refused to take his medication, police said. Lee Young said the boy was already known in the neighborhood. 

"He only talk about this gangster stuff," Young said. "I would be trying to tell him to go to school, and play football and stuff like that."

After the struggle and the shooting at the home in Leisure City, Neubauer, 55, was suspended with pay pending an investigation for the second time this year. Last year, South District Major Samuel Bronson gave Neubauer his 25 Years of Service award, the police department tweeted.

 

 

In March, Neubauer was one of two officers involved in the shooting that left 29-year-old Jahmal Parker wounded on U.S. Highway 1 near the Florida Keys. After hitting a few cars and crashing his minivan through a fence and into murky water, Parker had blood on his clothes.

The good Samaritans who rescued him said he fled the scene of the crash. Neubauer was among the officers who responded to help The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers to deal with Parker.

Parker, of Pompano Beach, answered police officer's questions, but when Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel tried to check if he was injured, he refused to be touched. Neubauer raised his voice and threatened Parker.

"You are going to let them treat you, or you are going to go in handcuffs and go in the back of the car that way ... You are bleeding ... You are going to sit down one way or another," the officer said pulling out his Taser. 

Body cam video shows Parker standing between Neubauer and Officer Richard Bellon, who stood closer. Parker suddenly turned, grabbed Bellon's Taser and pointed it at Neubauer, who put his Taser away and pulled out his firearm. Both officers fired their weapons. He was airlifted to the hospital. 

Parker's mother said her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he had been complaining about hearing voices, but he didn't have access to mental health care. Prosecutors charged Parker with resisting arrest with violence, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and depriving an officer of equipment.

Prosecutors later announced Oct. 2 that they had determined the officers' decision to shoot Parker was justified.

Soon after Neubauer returned to work, he responded to a call about a violent 15-year-old boy in foster care. The boy was recovering from the gunshot wound at Kendall Regional Medical Center on Friday. Authorities said he was in stable condition. 

The Florida Department of Children and Families' Mobile Crisis Team stopped by the home on Friday. They are trained to deal with mental health emergencies to help prevent costly stays in hospitals. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was investigating the Leisure City shooting. 


About the Authors:

Layron Livingston made the move from Ohio's Miami Valley to Miami, Florida, to join the Local 10 News team.

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.