Osceola County has agreed to a $1 million settlement in a federal lawsuit stemming from an April 2022 deputy shooting outside a Kissimmee Target parking lot when they were advised that two teenagers were seen inside the Target stealing Pokémon cards and a pizza.
Authorities said several unmarked patrol vehicles quickly surrounded the car Baez was driving after it left the store. Deputies said the car Baez was driving struck one of the patrol vehicles, prompting two deputies to open fire in what they said was self-defense.
Mark Nejame, attorney for the Baez family, questioned why a case of petit theft turned into a loss of life.
“All they had to do was say, ‘OK, we caught you stealing,’” Nejame told reporters, calling the crimes alleged to have been committed “misdemeanor offenses.”
Twenty-year-old Jayden Baez was killed, and Michael Gomez and Joseph Lowe ere injured. Another occupant of the car, Ian Joi, alleged he was injured by deputies after being dragged and injured after the shooting.
by Frank Butler, OrlandoAdvocate.com
A federal judge, refusing qualified immunity to deputies, criticized the use of deadly force and the absence of a verbal warning before one deputy fired repeatedly into the occupied vehicle. The Sheriff’s Office says it has changed policies, procedures and training practices. The settlement will be paid through liability insurance.
Advocate Angle
This story reaches directly into longstanding Black-community concerns about escalation, proportional force and whether young people suspected of low-level offenses are treated as immediate threats.
The settlement is not the end of the story. It creates a duty to determine whether reforms are visible in actual operations.
Why it matters
A financial settlement compensates families imperfectly. Public accountability requires knowing whether the practices that produced the shooting have genuinely changed.
- Kevin Seraaj
- Kevin Seraaj
- Kevin Seraaj
- Kevin Seraaj
